Kagaku no Railgun - Experimentation of a Different View
by metalgearhunter
Summary: Mikoto Misaka, the third ranked level 5 in Academy City, is dealing with the Sister's experiment behind the scenes, but another Level 3 esper decides to try getting involved only to end up in a huge mess. Can he somehow change the pace or end up as an enemy of the Railgun? -Will switch settings between the OC and Mikoto, no pairing involved.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note**: Okay, I've been a good fan of the Toaru series for quite a while, the Index and the Kagaku animes. So, I thought I'd make an original story that takes place during Railgun S, when Mikoto is in the middle of stopping the said experiment. This is an Alternate Universe fic, as I have not read the manga nor the light novel, but I feel I could make a good fanfic based on my knowledge of what is going on. Nothing is more fun than beginning a new story.

This story will revolve around an original character, but do know I like my characters to have flaws in them, so, yeah. You'll come to know him as the story progresses, and please let me know of what you think.

Chapter 1

Rain fell hard, the sky was dark, white tennis shoes lightly slapped against the wet pavement, small splashes following forward. Academy City, a proud and large city dedicated to advancing technology... science, and most of, abilities. Abilities, or special powers, belonged to special individuals, mainly students of many ages and sizes. These people were known as espers, or ESP. The espers were mainly organized in information by a set rank, there were six.

Level 0 was assigned to a majority or students who showed no promise or ability to develope a special power. Then there was level 1, an esper who showed power, but either had no means to control it, it was really weak, or just relatively useless. Level 2 espers showed potential to have useful or dangerous abilities, but it was still either weak or could only be used for everyday means. Then there were the level 3's, espers who had strong abilites that could be implemented in combat and showed great promise for improvement, but were looked at as nothing special and required more intense ability developement.

Then there was the proud level 4's, espers who had either mastered an ability to a very useful and appropriate degree, who should not be taken easily nor as a joke. The ability in their possession did not have to be distructive or fearing, but it was they themselves you feared due to the uses their ability carried. The amount of hardwork put into their abilities was substantial, and had to be respected. But, a level 4, as powerful as they are, is still nothing compared to the coveted level 5's.

Level 5 espers were viewed as the strongest individuals in Academy City, to a point where even Anti Skill, the strong police force that regulates said city, have a fear of them. Level 5 espers are espers who have completely mastered their abilities and can utilize them in more dangerous ways than one, and their bodies are no exception to this rule either. The ability they carry is viewed not on its destructive power, but in the ways the level 5 can utilize them, and are easily capable of taking out entire squads of people. There are only seven level 5's in Academy City, with the strongest being named Accelerator, who has a reputation of "killing" anyone he comes in contact with.

A boy sighed as he stood at a bus stop, rain pounding hard and his dark brown hair dripping. He blinked his bright yellow eyes, which cast a slight glow in them. If one watched closely, it would seem like fog was flowing inside his irises. "I thought it wouldn't rain this quickly, I thought I had more time..."

Finally, a bus stopped and with a loud hiss of gas, the bi-folding door opened. The boy stepped on, ready to get back to his dormitory. On the bus were several people, one could say it was fairly crowded. The rain continued to pour hard outside, and the boy cast his glance up, as it was pretty covered by the bangs of his hair. If not for the dim shine in his eyes, you'd not even be able to see the one showing. "Academy City..." he said to himself.

'I wouldn't say that I absolutely love this city, but I've got no better place to be... An esper isn't exactly well looked upon by the world, and even though we espers have powers, I wouldn't say we are invincible to bullets, missiles, or anything, especially an esper of my level...' He looked out in the window, and called forth images of himself in school.

'My name is Mijesu... Mijesu Hikan. I am a middle school junior, and I go to Sakugawa Middle School. Due to my height, there are a good amount of juniors in my grade that have a tendancy to pick on me. They call me wierd, stupid, and ugly... Harassment is a terrible thing, and even though I find those things untrue, the horrible things they say about me, I can't say it is easy to ignore, because the truth is it isn't...'

Mijesu sighed to himself. 'Actually, I kind of like the way I am, who shouldn't?' The boy looked up to a window to see a transparent reflection of himself. His face was smooth and soft, a small nose and a nuetral small frown was present. His dark brown hair reached down to his ears and the roof of it was smooth. It has a slight wave to it in the front, and most of his hair covered his left eye. 'They call me wierd because I kind of look like a girl. Those who read manga like myself would say I am a bishonen... I'm one of those boys who look like a real softie, but truth is...' He cast his glance to the front wind shield. 'The truth is...' A blink.

'I don't really know. I've never really been in a real confrontation, as my ability can be seen to be quite dangerous, but it is nothing I'd call proud...' He sighed. "Dammit... I want to get home..." 'It was getting quite late, and it was far past curfew... then, bus stopped again.'

Mijesu looked to the door to see it open and a lone girl stepped on. She wore a hat and short blue shorts with a black shirt. Due to the light, I couldn't exactly get a good luck of her, but she was pretty appealing. She had brown hair, a smooth face with thin cheeks. The hat looked good on her, but due to it, I couldn't really get a good look at her eyes.' The boy scoffed. 'Oh whatever, what business do I have needing to get such a good look at her anyways... It's not like I don't see girls everyday, but it is rare I ever see any my age out of uniform.' _Maybe I should try talking to her._

The girl in question took a free spot a man away from the boy and held a ring on the bus, due to no seats being free. Mijesu tilted his head her direction. Her head was hung down and rain dripped off of her clothes. 'Thankfully, she was not wearing any kind of transparent material, last thing I want to see is the undergarments of a girl on our first meeting...' Mijesu let go of the ring he was holding onto and manuevered his way over towards the girl he wanted to talk to. She looked quite tired, and overly stressed. He started to second guess whether he should talk to this girl or not, he didn't want to add any extra trouble to her tiresome day.

Mijesu cleared his throat slightly. "Um... hello?" he said with a low voice as to not disturb any sleeping passengers. The girl quickly turned her head to him when she heard his voice. "Hmm?"

"Oh, uh... Hi." he said, raising his voice slightly to make it clearer. The voice that came from his throat was light and soft. The girl's now visible single hazel eye blinked once.

"Hi." And with that, she turned away back to the ground. Mijesu slipped a hand into his polymer grey pants, his black jacket rustling slightly.

"Um... How are you doing?"

The girl turned to him. "What?"

Mijesu's eyes widened slightly. _Was she being aggrevated by him now?_ "Oh, uh..." He lost his words, he didn't wish to trouble her. "I was just wondering if you were okay..." The boy cast his gaze lower to her legs. "You look a bit... roughed up..."

The girl looked to his slightly shining eye in his shadows and then down to where his eyes were, her legs. "Yeah, I'm fine. What do you want?"

"Nothing really, it is just odd to see another student at this time of day, it is like 11 PM, way past curfew..."

"You sound like my dorm manager when you say that..." the brown haired girl turned away calmly. "I could say the same thing about yourself..."

"Dorm manager, huh? So you live in a dorm too?"

"Most students do..." the girl's tone hinted to that it was an obvious fact. Mijesu sighed.

"I guess you are right..." He turned away. "I was just a little worried, that's all."

"Alright." The girl didn't even return a glance. Mijesu looked back to her, observing her, the way she breathed, her current posture, all pointed to exhaustion due to heavy stress or maybe even combat.

"You're an esper, aren't you?"

She looked at him. "Yeah, so..."

"Oh... Am I aggrevating you, by any chance?"

The girl in question blinked at him, then slowly shook her head. "I'm just tired."

The boy bent down and reached into his bag, searching for something. The ruffling sound eminated from the plastic caused her to look to see what he was doing. Was this boy some sort of pervert or something? Then, he pulled out a bar shaped candy. He lifted it up in his hand and held it forth.

"Here, this oughta help relieve some of that, atleast enough until you can get home and go to bed."

The girl blinked, confused, and looked at the bar he was outreaching to her. "Um..." She lifted her hand to take it. "Thanks, you don't find many people who are willing to just give others something to eat."

"Well, I'd give you something more, but that is all I could afford." Mijesu lifted his hand and held onto the ring hanging from the roof as the girl took the candy and opened it up. "Besides, I'm not most people... My name is Mijesu, what's yours?"

The girl took a bite of the chocolate candy, then chewed breifly before swallowing. She stood in thought as the boy stared at her with his one strangely visable eye. _Should I tell him, what if he freaks out?_

Mijesu tilted his head slightly. "You know, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, you are just... one of the only people I've been able to click with this easily..."

The girl turned to him as the bus hit a bump, jerking the passengers slightly. "By that... you mean you don't get along well with other kids?"

"More like they don't want to get along with me... Most people find me wierd, so they just stay away, and I respect that. If they don't want nothing to do with me, then I figure it'd be best to just leave them alone."

"Well, come here, I don't want anyone freaking out over this." The girl held up her hand, the one holding the bar, and motioned for him to lean over with her index finger. Mijesu slowly obliged, and she leaned to his ear. "Mine is Mikoto Misaka..."

Mijesu blinked, his eyes slightly widened. _Misaka Mikoto? The Misaka Mikoto!? The electromaster, the third level 5 in Academy City, the third __**strongest**__ esper in the whole city!? The Railgun!_ His head stared at the floor as the girl tilted her head slightly.

"Are you okay?" she inquired lowly. Mijesu slowly lifted his head.

"Yeah..." he had to keep his cool, he couldn't freak out. He hadn't heard any kind of nasty rumors hinting that the Railgun was mean or anything, just that... "I... I never thought I'd meet someone like... you."

"Well, I'm not exactly that special... I'm not some celebrity or anything like that, and I never wanted to be either..." She leant back and took another bite of the chocolate.

"I think I see what you mean, I'd rather have my power than someone else's any day."

The girl now identified as Mikoto Misaka, looked over at him. "Power, you mean you are an esper? You certainly don't look it, but then again, looks can be decieving."

"Yeah, I am actually. A level 3."

Mikoto smiled. "How nice. Is your life okay?"

"It could be better, but I won't complain. What about yours, I've heard some nasty rumors about you, though I can surmise they aren't true."

Mikoto slightly huffed in shock of his statement. "Re-really? What kind of rumors?"

"It's really nothing..." Mijesu leaned his head against his raised arm. "Something about clones, but I doubt anything like that could really happen."

Mikoto looked down to the ground, she looked like a one-thousand pound anvil had been dropped on her back and she was forced to carry it all by herself. "Yeah..." she said lowly. "Nothing like that could happen..."

Mijesu looked down at her with half lidded eyes of concern. He had never thought the third ranked level 5 of Academy City could look so defeated in all of his life, but he never thought she'd be this nice or appealing either. "I'm sorry for bringing it up." He put out his hand to her, but Mikoto slapped it away and pulled the ring, signalling the bus to stop.

"Oh, don't worry about it..." she said calmly. "Anyways, I'm at my stop..." Mijesu simply stared at her as she began to walk away. "Don't worry about me too much, worry about yourself, it is not like we'll meet again anyway." She stepped off and the boy watched as the doors closed and the bus resumed on it's path to the next destination.

He blinked, confused as to the sudden halt. "Won't see you again, huh?" He looked away. _Too bad, and I was starting to feel good too..._ "Oh well." he sighed. Another thirty minutes rode by and soon, he was close to his dormitory. He yanked the ring, once again signalling the bus to stop and made his way out into the rain carrying his bag of groceries. He walked slowly as the bus drove away, one hand in his jacket pocket while the other just hung by his side carrying the bag. The dark night was slowly drifting away, and he had to get to sleep.

Then, some voices came up from behind him, and they slowly caught up. He kept walking forward as three shadows came forth that were cast by a street light he passed.

"Hey, kid, what'cha got there?" He looked at the one who asked with dull eyes, not responding. "Kid, I said what do ya got!" He yanked the bag and pushed Mijesu away. He grunted as he spun and slipped on the slippery pavement. He blinked with a dull look in his eyes as the three larger strangers rumocked through his bag of goods he had spent much of his low income on.

"Damn, there isn't anything in here... Nothing no good anyway..." one of the other men said. His blue highlated eyes turned towards him as he picked himself. "Kid, you got any money on you?"

Mijesu stood up and glared at the man with blue under his eyes, then the other three. "Yeah, but you aren't getting it, I'm saving it for something else."

"Oh really?" the third man said, his face covered in piercings. He reached behind his back and quickly whipped out a knife. "I'd like you to say that again."

The young boy glanced at the knife. Its razor sharp edge was shining, highlighted by the gleam of the street light near their location. The other two took out knives as well, they obviously meant to harm him.

"Fine, I will." Mijesu squinted his eyes slightly, his fist clenching, his blood began to pump. "You are not... getting... any of it... Infact, I'll be giving you something else..." The boy lifted his hand up infront of him, and the men watched as he held it up. "You must think just because you are so big and bad means you can't just mess with anyone you wish to... Well, I've got a message for you..."

An image of that girl came to his mind, Misaka Mikoto. She was strong, powerful, elegant. Never before had he thought he'd meet someone like that, but he did. He did and nobody could say he didn't. _I'm going to look for her... I'm going to find her and spend some time with her. I want to talk to her again..._ The boy narrowed his eyes. "What you can have though, is something you'd best not be looking for..."

The three men looked at eachother, then at once, all began to laugh.

"That's some big talk coming from a runt like you..." the first man said, then he began to howl forth laughter again. "I bet you are just trying to scare us, aren't you. You are just a punk, what do you think you are, an-"

Suddenly, the wind began to blow forth, almost circling towards the smaller child infront of the three thugs. They began to glance around, feeling the growing current. "Hey, what the fuck's going on?"

"How the hell should I know?" said the third man. He then looked at the child to find he now held both hands up, straight over his head. "What... the..." What they saw forming in his hands was glowing light blue ball of some sort of kinetic energy.

"You... you're... an esper?"

The boy smirked. "That's correct... I am Mijesu Hikan... The Smooth Stream..." Wind circled forth as the boy threw his arms down, and the energy ball followed and hit the ground hard, riding it as it flew fast to the individuals. They began to let out screams before a large discharge of kinetic energy exploded, busting all three individuals away. Smoke filled the area as the rain continued to drop, and Mijesu stood straight and let himself relax as the dust settled. Far off on the other side of the street, the three thugs lied in rather uncomfortable positions, unconcious, and shortly infront of him, a small hole was present. He sighed.

"Great..." Mijesu slapped a hand lightly to his forehead and looked up in grief. "Now there is a pothole in the ground... thanks a lot, idiots..." He picked up his bag and continued down the street to his dormitory. "I want to be friends with you... Mikoto Misaka." He smiled to himself as he now found a new goal, a new potential, a new strength.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note**: I hope you enjoyed chapter 1, now here's two.

Chapter 2

The next day began like any other ordinary day would. Mijuse awoke at 7:00 AM in the morning to get ready for school like most students do. He would shower, brush his teeth, and get ready for the day. Mijuse had no roommates to talk to or any who would bother him, so he slept soundly for the most part. And the school work was not much a hassle, either. He'd struggle with some things every now and again, and would sometimes just not be able to pay any kind of attention to what the instructor was teaching them all about. Mainly, he'd be focused on what kind of treatment he'd recieve on his way to the next class.

Being targeted by thugs was one thing, it was a normal situation for the kid. Due to his small dimeaner and his non-threatning appearance, he'd settle as an "easy" target; however, other students' harassment was another. He'd be walking to class carrying nothing but what was on his back and eventually, some bully would want to pick a fight with him. Mijuse would stand there contemplating and trying to ignore everything being said about him, rude comments about him being stupid, being some sort crimester, a failure of sorts and even a rumor about him being a homosexual simply due to his features. Being a level 3 esper, he sure had the power to shut some of those kids up, but he'd rather not stoop down to their level and hurt them worse than he knew they could hurt him.

For the most part, he was successful at ignoring them sometimes, other times, not so much. Sometimes, just holding it all in would make it rougher on him, but unlike most other days, today he was left completely to himself. This gave him a good sense of relief, and he thought he'd go out today to see if he could find the Railgun and maybe try talking to her some more. _To befriend a level 5 esper... That is something not many people can just do, though..._ He almost let his head fall towards the ground as he sat down at a table with his lunch tray. He was sitting outside and it was currently the lunch break at Sakugawa Middle School. He stabbed his fork into the rice and devoured a bite. Not far behind him, sat two other girls who were chit chatting rather loudly. They were talking about going on some shopping trip with two other friends of theirs at the Seventh Mist.

_"Yeah, I hope they have those rings there, I've been wanting to buy one for ages!"_

_"But, Saten, you know those things are too expensive. Have you even seen the prices yet?"_

_"They could be having a special sale, and I could probably get one with these cash cards I've been finding!"_

The girl named Saten giggled as her friend gasped loudly. Mijuse turned his head with a raised eyebrow. _Cash cards? Are they talking about that silly rumor about finding cards with money on them in those alley ways? Is it true?_

_"Saten, you were supposed to turn any in you found to Judgement! Why do you still have some!"_

"Judgement, huh?" Mijuse said to himself. _So she must be a member..._

_"Oh, that's right. I forgot you were in Judgement, Uiharu..."_ She didn't mean it.

_"Of course I am, how could you forget a thing like that!"_

_So she is a member..._ Mijuse took another bite of rice. _Oh to hell with this, I need to get out of here so I can stop this eavesdropping. I can't help they are talking so loud, but I really don't want to listen to it, either..._ The boy picked up his tray and began to walk away.

_"So, are we still going to invite Shiria and Mikoto along, or what?"_

The esper stopped in his tracks. _Did they say "Mikoto"? Do they know Mikoto?_ He turned towards them as the girl, Saten, nodded.

"I don't see why not, you think Mikoto will come with us today, though? She's been acting unlike herself a lot these days."

"I don't really know, but there is no harm in asking, is there?"

Mijuse, deciding not to just stand around any longer, turned around and made his way to the table the two girls were sitting at. He approached them as Saten was nodding her head to her friend's question.

"I don't see any harm in it, the worst she could say is no."

Mijuse reached them. "Hello there..." The two girls stopped their conversation and looked up at him. Saten brightened her face and smiled at him.

"Hey, what's up." She put a hand up, then put it down with a wave when the question was finished.

"I couldn't help but over hear your conversation... and I heard you guys were going down to Seventh Mist." Mijuse told them.

"Oh my, were we really talking that loud?" Saten said, raising her hands to her mouth whilst exchanging a glance with Uiharu, who scratched her head with a doubtful look on her face.

"I don't really know, Shirai doesn't like guys to be around us much."

Mijuse's eyes dulled. _Figures... I should have never even thought about asking the question to a group of girls..._ "Oh, well, thanks, I guess you knew what I was going to ask, didn't you." He raised a hand behind his hand and scratched his hair with a smile. Uiharu had nodded.

"Well, you were going to ask if you could come with us, right?"

He let his hand fall. "Precisely..."

"I'm really sorry..."

"No-no-no, don't stress over it, hehe..." Mijuse waved his hand in defense. "I was just going to head over there myself today and I just wondered if maybe we could go over there together or something like that, but it seems you have other meetings planned, so I'll just see you later." That was a lie.

"Oh, well..." Uiharu looked to her side. "Maybe you can just come with us-"

"Nah, that won't be neccesary. Besides, it'd look awkward if I was to walk alongside a group of girls anyway..." Mijuse quickly made his escape, he had to get out of that awkward situation itself. _I should have never asked..._ He approached a lone table and sat down, resuming to eat his lunch.

The time was past 7 PM, the level 3 esper decided it would be best not to go to Seventh Mist after all. He didn't need to catch the attention of those two girls and possibly Mikoto again. Infact, after spending time thinking about it, Mijuse thought it'd be best if he never looked for her after all. He walked the crowded streets of Academy City with both hands in pockets and his head to the pavement, watching his feet cross over dirty tiles of sidewalk concrete. He sighed. "What to do, what to do..." Curfew was approaching for the students, and he didn't need to be late again. "I probably need to just go home..." He stopped infront of a book store, and looked up into the glass doors. Shelves of books stood cleanly infront of the doors and he decided to walk in.

He picked up a random book and flipped the pages to see its contents. Nothing really interesting stood out as he scanned the pages, then he flipped it closed and put it back. Deciding he was wasting his little time, Mijuse slowly paced out and back onto the streets. Then, a woman's voice sounded off from speakers that were strategically placed all around the city with an announcement.

"Curfew will commense in thirty minutes. We advise all students to return to their homes immediatly. That is all."

Mijuse rubbed his head, then slumped against a pole as he place his hand back inside his pocket. "Geez, what a drag... Well, I better get going." Mijuse turned around to see a grocery store not far from his location, but what caught his real attention was the smoke pillar rising far beyond it. "What on earth?"

In the distance, a black smoke bellowed into the dark sky, and he could see the reflection of a sort of fire from other buildings near it. For a while now, some sort of report has been going off on the television new stations about research facilities being attacked by an unknown entity. Mijuse shook his head, deciding against going to see what was happening. The authorities would handle it no problem. He turned around, and headed to where he was supposed to go. With a heavy sigh, he headed for the dorms.

The next day was off, and school was out. It had been a hard day related to classwork, and some homework had found its way onto his person, but he could deal with that after curfew. Mijuse was walking down a nice sidewalk, merely enjoying his peace when a cry sounded not far behind him. He stopped and blinked as the crying of a child continued. The esper turned around with a "hmm" and saw a small girl sitting on the sidewalk holding onto her red shin. Mijuse turned around and walked to the small girl, and upon reaching her, knealt down on his ankles.

"Hey, are you okay?"

The small girl ceased her whimpering to look up at him. "Huh?" Mijuse smiled at her lightly.

"You're hurt, aren't you?" The girl looked around, then put a hand to her head, and gave a quick nod. "I thought so... Come here." He took her into his arms with a smile and turned to the park, walking to a lone bench. The two neared it and he set her down on it as she gave a slight whimper. "Shh..." Mijuse put a finger up to his lips to illustrate silence. "Now, stay right here, I'm going to get something to put on that scrape, alright? Do you have any parents around?"

"They're at home..." she said slowly. Mijuse scratched his head.

"I should have figured." He pushed himself up. "Alright, stay there." Mijuse walked away to look for a quick convenience store that would hold some sort of bandage and disinfectant spray. Luckily for him, there was one not far from his location. He entered inside and quickly picked up a bottle and a small box of bandages. After paying for the items, he exitted the store and headed for where he left the small girl, but he found nobody there. He blinked, confused as to where she could have gone. He looked left, nobody was present. Then right, still nothing. Shaking his head, he decided to let bygones be bygones. "I really should have figured..." He sighed and let the bag hang from his side and continued to walk the previous route he had before he was set off track. "Oh boy..."

He later entered into the lunch district and entered a small cafe. He glanced around to see not many tables were filled, not really paying attention to the guests, then headed to the front counter. A cashier quickly took his order for a milkshake and he decided to seat himself not far from the register, then he saw her, Mikoto Misaka. He stopped abruptly, the bag in his tow shaking from the abrupt stop. Mijuse blinked as he stared at the level 5 he met just the two days ago, then he gulped. Yesterday he had wanted to meet her, but later lost his courage and instead became afraid of seeing her, remembering how he set her off last time and made her leave. He decided it would be best to just wait for his drink and then leave. He turned around to avoid her gaze and walked to the counter calmly.

"Um, ma'am..." he said, holding up a finger.

"Yes?" the cashier said.

"Could you make that shake to go..."

"Oh, yes sir, we will." He briethed lowly, and looked over at Mikoto. Her head was hung down again, but this time she was with other people. He then took notice to her uniform.

_Tokiwadai? She's from that famous rich school, no doubt. They only accept powerful espers... No way I could even hope to talk to someone like that again, last time I was just lucky, but from now on, I need to just stay out of her way..._ Mijuse looked at the other girls. The one across from her had two pig tails in her lighter colored hair and she was wearing the same uniform. She must have been a close friend and a powerful esper. He then turned to see the other two and instantly recognized them. _What the!? Is that Saten? Then... that means the other must be Uiharu..._ He turned away, being sure to not catch their attention lest he look any longer. He'd leave right now, but he already payed for the milkshake and it would only get attention if he were to withdraw his order now. So, he decided to wait patiently.

"Ok, here you are, sir. You're vanilla milkshake, ready and waiting." the clerk said.

Calmly, he reached his hand out and took it. "Thankyou. He turned, took a sip, then proceeded out the door. _I hope I don't run into any of them again..._

He walked back to the dorms, deciding today was just another day, and to avoid anymore confrontations of any kind, he'd just get his homework done with and go have a nice long sleep. Mijuse walked along the sidewalks, taking sips of his milkshake every so often until he came across a strange noise. The noise was disgusting and ripe, it sounded like something had been squished, like an old egg or a dog. He stopped and looked to his side to find a dark long alley way. A brief scream entered his ears, which made him erk back breifly, dropping his drink. His eyes widened, was somebody being attacked!? No, he had to call the authorities about this. He reached for his cell, but found nothing there.

"What? Where's my phone?" He looked around his person and then heard another scream. His eyes widened with struck fear and he quickly looked into the alley. He had no time, he had to save this person now. With a dash, he ran into the darkness, trying to track down where the scream had come from. Hopefully someone else with a phone would have heard it and was calling for help now, the least he could do was find who the attacker was and hopefully save the victim, and if the worst was to come, he could atleast identify the assailant to the police when they got there.

He ran and made numerous turns, just how big and twisty were these alleyways anyway? He had never seen one this huge before. Mijuse kept running and running until the air began to smell foul. The stench stung his nostrils, and he came to a screeching halt, holding his nose with both hands. "What on earth?" He looked around, but found nothing in the barely lit passage. He must have been getting close, but this stench was unbelievable, it smelt like something had died here a long time ago. He pushed forward, was the victim even still alive? The alley got deeper, and his eyes began to tear from the foulness in the air.

_What happened here, where are they? I can't see or hear anything now, why hasn't anybody else heard it yet. Surely if someone else did, cops would be coming._ Then suddenly, another blood hurdling scream loudly clashed into his ears. It jolted him something fierce, what was _that_? Was that what a murder sounded like. He looked behind him, then ran. That is where they were, he had to get there before anything more happened. Time was of the essense and he was short on it, he had to save her, every person only got _one_ life after all, and it was nothing to be taken lightly. Where is she, where could they be? Then, suddenly, he came upon it.

Slowly, Mijuse came to a stop as he saw a silhoutte, no, two shadows in the far distance. One was holding the other by the neck as the hostage struggled to lift her hand to his arm. It looked like parts of her legs were missing from the looks of it, and loose strings were hanging down from her limbs except the arm. Mijuse's eyes shook as the assailant reached his hand into her mouth and pushed it deep in. A scream, a horrible cry filled the air and was briefly muffled. Mijuse clamped his ears shut, he didn't imagine it to be anything like this. He did not even consider what was really happening here, someone was being killed! He looked down to the floor, quivering in his spot, trying to fight off the horrible and sick sounds that followed the scream.

_Oh, God, what is happening here! No, I have to go, I have to get out of here and report this! I can't fight, what am I kidding, I can, but I can't see _this_! I can't deal with this!_ Mijuse looked up to see the shadows gone. _What the?_ He blinked again to clarify his sight. The two were gone, and everything was silent. Nothing but the songs of faint birds were present high above. "Wh-where did they go? Did what I just see really happen?" He stood up straight, then turned around. Nothing was present. He shook his head and slowly walked forth with an unsure smile. "No... that didn't happen... Nothing like I just saw really ha-happened..." He walked out of the small branch alley and turned a corner to see the path he was previously on. With a nervous chuckle, he walked out and soon came back to the street. _Nothing happened, nothing really happened... I was just hearing things, that's all._ He laughed lightly. "Nothing like that happens and then suddenly disappears with out a trace..." He looked to his shoes with a crooked grin, then proceeded forward, never wanting to recall his illusion.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note**: Read and Review please.

Chapter 3

_I never thought trying to save all of them would be so hard..._

An explosion filled the dark silence, metal debris and solid concrete chunks flew in every direction. Flying cylinder metallic robots flew about, laser focuses honed in on the lone target standing in the middle of the chaos. With their dual mounted machine guns, they let loose a barrage of bullets, spraying down the area. Bullet holes were forged deep in the tile flooring, but no blood followed with it. The target lifted her hand, and one by one, the metallic guards were struck down faster than anything could anticipate.

_Every night since then has been focused on nothing else but my current objective._

A lone girl ran through a neat corridor, doors opened after every pass, revealing sick and hidden secrets behind each one. She ignored every single one, she had only one destination in mind. With a determined stern face, she unleashed a devastating blast towards an armored electronic door. The armor stood no match against her power, and was destroyed in a matter of mere seconds.

_I am growing tired, anxious... I'm hard to keep up with, even for myself, but I know I can't stop now... I have to keep going to the end, no matter what it will end up costing me._

One monitor after another was set ablaze by an inward explosion, an overload of its circuits. No kind of safety hazard could prevent the equipment's inevitable destruction, she would not stop, nay, she would never stop until it was all over.

_I hate these facilities... I hate these researchers... I hate myself for what I allowed to happen!_

An image of girl's leg came into the girl's mind, blood and innards left hanging out, then a blood pool. Her face twisted into agony, her eyes widened at the memory. She couldn't let it happen ever again, she didn't want it to.

_"Farewell, Onee-chan..."_

Sparks started to eminate from the girl, her hair started to static and float apart slightly as she stood in the room full of expensive equipment, each monitor displaying various read outs. Then, as lightning and electicity started to destroy and set ablaze to everything around her, the girl let out a rage filled scream, crying out so loud as if to reach the heavens. Nothing will stop her, absolutely nothing.

"Good morning, Onee-sama..." said a light voice.

Mikoto Misaka, who lied face down in her bed, her face buried in her pillow, grumbled at the sound of her roommate as the other girl placed a soft hand on her shoulder.

"Onee-sama, it is time to get up..."

Slowly, Mikoto opened her eye. Her initial sight held a blur in it, but it soon focused so she could see the close up figure of her roommate's face, Kuroko Shirai, who was slightly bent over with another hand keeping her up on Mikoto's bed. Mikoto slowly rolled over and looked Kuroko in the eyes. "What are you doing?.."

"Getting you up again. Onee-sama, you really need to conduct yourself better..." Kuroko straightened her posture with crossed arms as she looked down at the level 5 electromaster. "As the Electric Princess, Tokiwadai's Ace, you need to continue to set an example for all the other girls here in Tokiwadai. How would it look if you were to go slumping and dragging yourself to class like you do day after day, now?" Mikoto could only blink at the statement, her fatigue settling in.

Kuroko could see no answer was coming forth as Mikoto slowly looked to her bed. She sighed and let her hands slowly fall to her sides. "Onee-sama, we really do need to go to class..."

With a hand to her hair, Mikoto only looked away to the window. "Kuroko... I don't think I can go the class today, I don't exactly feel up to it..." Mikoto's body felt like it weighed a ton, her body ached and was sore all over the place. Her mind was weak and she was exhausted from the lack of proper sleep.

Kuroko blinked. "Onee-sama, are you sure you don't want to tell me what is going on?" Mikoto looked over at her. "It's no puzzle that you are obviously strained and tore up from some unknown cause, what with all the late-night adventures and all you've been having. Every morning, I find you laying exactly as you are now and sometimes you have small scrapes or bruises, and-"

"It's okay, Kuroko..." Mikoto said, working up a smile as she turned to face her friend. "I'm not doing anything rash, okay? I just... need some rest is all, okay?"

Kuroko worriedly looked at her princess, then obliged. _I guess she still doesn't want to tell me what's going on..._ She nodded and smiled lightly at Mikoto. "Alright, I'll cover for you back in class. You just get some sleep..." Relunctantly, Kuroko turned to walk out of the room. Mikoto tried her best not just fall back into the mattress as Kuroko reached and turned for the doorknob, and instead just slowly slumped back down. Her body screamed relief when she finally just lied comfortably flat into her bed. The mental stress of all of her clones being killed off right now was starting to get to her, and her body just couldn't keep up with it.

"But, Onee-sama..."

Mikoto was surprised to hear she was still in the room. Mikoto turned her head to look at the teleporter at the door as she faced her as well.

"Do you think you could atleast come to the Judgement branch and spend some time with us today? You've been staying away for quite a while now, and we all have been really worried about you."

Mikoto blinked, pondering on the possibility of whether or not she should stay in the bed until nightfall again. _Of course they've been worried about me, I don't even talk to them that much anymore._ Mikoto turned her eyes to the bed sheets, slightly clenching them. _All I ever do is tell them everything is alright, that nothing is going on... I am continueously lying to them, and yet they tell me the same thing... I hate troubling them as much as I have been lately..._ She closed her eyes, thinking of their cheerful faces, Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko. Their smiles gave her hope, they gave her comfort when she most needed it, but... _There is no way I can let them know... They will only end up getting dragged in and get hurt in one way or another... I can't let that happen to them, not with what I've done. I can't let them get injured in the situation I created, I won't... Even if I have to keep telling them little lies every now and then, I love them all too much to let that happen to them..._

"Onee-sama?" Kuroko tilted her head slightly. Mikoto snapped open her eyes. Kuroko could see a slight glimmer in them. The esper on the bed finally gave a small nod with what Kuroko knew was a fake smile.

"I'll be there..." Her voice was almost hoarse and faint, the teleporter could tell she was very exhausted from the night's ordeals. "At what time?"

Kuroko gave a caring look, then she smiled at her. "How about I just come and get you?"

Mikoto shook her head. "No... I'll just be there by four."

Kuroko sighed. "Fine, but I'll be coming back to check on you during lunch, alright?" Mikoto absently nodded as she closed her eyes, shifting her head to a comfortable position. "Onee-sama..."

"Just please leave me alone..."

Kuroko just let her head look to the carpet. "Alright..." And with that, Kuroko shut the door and Mikoto was left all to herself, with nothing but her thoughts.

"I can't let them know anything... I can't, it is just not an option..." Mikoto told herself. "They don't need to trouble themselves with a problem I created... I need to put an end to it... Only seven facilities left to go... Only seven left..." Her world started to slowly dim dark, her mind was fogging up, and before she knew it, she was dead to the world.

A phone rang on her desk, jolting Mikoto awake violently. She shook in her bed and spazzed out, looking around for the sudden loud noise. "What the!?" Nobody was in the room except her shadow. She blinked sleepy eyes, trying to fight off the drowsiness, then she turned to the phone laying on the dresser next to her bed. She grabbed it and looked at the number, then her face dragged slightly. "Kuroko..." she said to nobody in particular. The electromaster flipped it open and put the phone to her ear. "Hello..."

"Onee-sama, where are you?"

"Hmm?" Mikoto sat up in her bed with a heavy head. "What are you talking about?"

"Onee-sama, you said you would be here, it is five o'clock right now..."

Mikoto yawned, she obviously didn't get enough sleep. "So... It's not like I had anything planned or something."

"Well, maybe you were just so tired you didn't pay attention, but you were supposed to meet Saten, Uiharu, and myself down here at the Judgement Branch so we could all go window shopping together an hour ago." Kuroko complained over the phone. "Are you really feeling that bad?"

Mikoto shot up. _Was it already that late? It only felt like I was asleep for minutes._ "Oh, yeah, that's right." Mikoto forced up a laugh. "Don't worry, I'm okay... I'll be over there in a few, just let me get myself situated..."

"Onee-sama..."

"Look, I said I'd be there, alright." Mikoto began to get aggrevated and her voice was starting to show it. "Just give me some time..." Silence befell the conversation, and Mikoto stood up holding her phone, until finally she caught her tone. With a sigh, she repositioned the device to her other ear. "I'm sorry, Kuroko, I just..."

"I know, Onee-sama... We all know..." Mikoto blinked, her eyes drooped from the guilt she was feeling from nearly yelling at her friend. _How can I blame her, that's my fault too..._ "Listen, Onee-sama, if you do not feel well enough to come today, we can all just hold off on it until later-"

"No, just... No... I'll be there, I promise." Mikoto looked to the floor, she didn't need to worry her friends anymore, despite how her body protested against getting up and running about. "I'll be there." And with that, she hung up the phone and turned towards the bathroom. After taking a quick shower to ease up the tension in her muscles, she dried off and slipped on her night uniform.

_I can't afford to waste energy coming back to put this on today. After I spend some time with Saten and the others, I've got to get back to work..._ She wrapped her hair into a small pony tail and clipped the back of her hat onto her blue shorts. She then came to the mirror to take a look at herself with a stern face. _I'll have to take it easy tonight to conserve some energy for tomorrow's school day. There is no way I can skip another day like I have and not recieve any kind of attention for it. Things just get harder from here on out..._

Mikoto turned away from herself and opened up the door, taking one last look at her bed before slowly shutting the room up, disclosing any kind of relaxing thoughts out of her head. It was that time again.

The electromaster approached the door entrance into the Judgement Branch Uiharu and Kuroko worked in, branch #177. With a heavy sigh, she knocked on the door and later heard footsteps coming from the otherside. Mikoto straightened herself up as the door opened to reveal Kuroko, who at once brightened up with a smile. "Onee-sama!"

Mikoto only gave a brief smile in return. "May I step in, it is quite hot out here..."

"Oh, yes, come on in. And my, must I say, Onee-sama, you look quite sexy in that outfit..." Kuroko chuckled rather sinisterly as her mouth drooled. Mikoto could see the temptation of sexual molestation in her eyes, but she would rather not have to shock Kuroko today so she could conserve her energy. She would need all she had for tonight's strike as well as tomorrow's school day.

"Kuroko, please, not today..." And with that, Mikoto walked past her and into the main room of the building where Saten and Uiharu were stationed. As usual, Uiharu was typing away at a computer, but she happily turned her head to greet her friend.

"Hello, Mikoto. It is good to finally see you with your head held high."

Saten, too, gave a warm smile. "I'm glad to see you are doing well, today..." Saten watched as Mikoto took a seat next to her.

"It is good to see you guys again too..." Mikoto could feel her drowsiness settling back in, was she getting tired again already? No, that couldn't be it, it just couldn't! Mikoto forced another smile up. "So, what has been going on with you guys, I'm sorry we haven't spoken in a while."

Saten smiled at her. "Nothing really, we've just going here and there, doing some shopping and going out to eat at places." The level 0 of the group looked at Mikoto, giving a warm smile. She could tell Mikoto was stressing a lot, and she knew that if she was to let her know what she was worrying over her, Mikoto would only stress more. "So, uh... You get enough sleep today?"

Mikoto nodded. "Yeah, I got a good bit in today. I really feel better now." Uiharu nodded.

"Well, that is good to hear. Would you like something to drink, Mikoto, you know... before we all go out?"

Mikoto did not like the idea of going walking around. "Yeah, I'd love some water. I'm a bit parched at the moment." Uiharu happily nodded and got up to attend to Mikoto's need as Kuroko took her place beside her.

"So... do you think you might find something you like?" Kuroko leaned in close to the electromaster, who in return almost let a spark fly, warning the girl to stay at a distance.

"Remember what we talked about... personal space, Kuroko?" Mikoto said, her head ticking in annoyance slightly.

"Oh yeah." Kuroko scooched away. "I'm sorry, Onee-sama." She watched her as Uiharu came back with a clear glass of water.

"Here, Mikoto. This should do you some good." Uiharu handed the glass over to her friend, who gladly took it and drank a big sip. Saten smiled as she watched some of the water disappear from the glass. Mikoto then let the crystaline cylinder fall from her lips and held it infront of her. Saten smiled a bit more to show attentiveness.

"So... is everything going okay, are you having trouble at school?" the girl asked her. Mikoto slowly nodded, still staring at the cup in her hands. "Are you feeling well? You seem to have been pretty stressed lat-"

"I..." Mikoto said lowly, interrupting her question. Kuroko and Uiharu as well ceased their small activity to listen to what the esper had to say. "... am just fine... I mean it..." Mikoto wanted to ease their feelings for her, she did not want them all worrying over her situation, she did not even want them involved. It would be too much for them to handle, much less understand. "I really do..."

Saten watched as Mikoto continued to stare at the glass left in her hands. She had never seen the level 5 Railgun in a position quite like this. Saten always remembered the girl being energetic and always the first to jump to a risk to save someone or something. She would smile or be optimistic about her situation, even when faced with the direst of circumstances... She was strong, but now... She looked troubled, unsure of the challenges ahead... Mikoto was always tired now, and she was becoming harder to stay around. She was continuously pushing them away, almost as if she did not trust them with whatever heavy burden she was going through...

What sat infront of the only level 0 in the room was a disturbed and scared girl who was contemplating some obviously heavy thoughts, but what Saten saw was a scared and troubled friend, and she knew deep down that Mikoto wanted to tell them what was going on... She just did not know how to... So, with a kind smile, Saten reached out to her.

Mikoto was delving into her thoughts, literally transfering them into visual signs to see what she thinking inside her head, the world was dead to her, all she could think about was her clones, the ones that were needlessly sentencing themselves to death... For what? A stupid experiment?! She gripped the glass harder, the thought, the revelation angered her, and all she could do was try her best to shut it down, but she never imagined it would be this hard, nor would it take this long. And every second she wasted here was just another second for those scientists to set up another experiment to kill one of her many clones. They may not have been human, but they were still alive, they were still hers, and she'd destroy anyone who supported this project... anyone and everyone who would benefit from it.

Mikoto suddenly jumped, the water in her glass lightly flying out and landing her her hands. Her eyes widened slightly as she felt a warmth on her hand, a reassuring peace. She shifted her eyes to other hand present on her right one, then she followed the arm to find Saten smiling at her. She blinked, confused for a second until she remembered where she was.

"I'm... sorry, you guys..." Mikoto said, letting her head fall slightly.

"Don't worry about it, alright?" Saten told her kindly. Mikoto looked up to her. "We are here for you whenever you need it. When you feel you can tell us, any of us, just let us know..." Saten gripped her hand slightly. "That's what friends are for, right?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note**: Another chapter. As you can tell, I am kind of just pushing into the plot here...

Chapter 4

A chill blew by in the cold night air. City lights shone from afar and down below as Mikoto Misaka stood at the roof of a tall building, over looking yet another one of her targets. She pinched the bridge of her eyes. "I really do not need to exert myself tonight, not after how terrible a day today was..."

Not long ago, the level 5 Railgun was taking a small shopping trip with her friends, Kuroko, Uiharu, and Saten. While they all put on smiles and tried to talk about things that did not particularly concern Mikoto and her wierd behavior, the whole time she was too focused on her task at hand and could not even enjoy her time with them, all the while trying not to fall over. The only time her energy was fluctating nicely was when she was doing what she had to do now... Tonight, she would only take out one of these research centers, and see if she could find any of those clones in it as well, hopefully being able to disuade her from her set fate.

Mikoto took in a deep breath, then kicked off the side of the building, falling straight down like an arrow towards a square glass roof. She squinted, and then, in a flash, bursted through the glass. Several men in white long lab coats were surprised by the sudden intrusion and the shake that came after, electricity flying in the smoke. No one saw who it was, but as they dropped various files and boxes, others ceasing activities on monitors and other electronic equipment, a scream came forth and discharges of blue cackles were sent everywhere.

Man after man, they fell unconcious as Mikoto stood in the center, her electricity flailing widely. She stared sternly at nothing in particular as the dust from her crash settled, then, with a look in any direction, she cast forth a bolt which blew out electronic equipment in every direction. Another look, and then another, she set forth a cloud of disruption, setting every computer and file ablaze. Mikoto was determined to burn this facility to the ground.

_They think playing with peoples' lives is a game... I'll show them all exactly what they are dealing with..._

Mikoto walked forward towards a door. She stood before the steel door, it was obviously print or recognition activated, since no hint of a door knob was present. With a flick of energy, the door was fooled and opened up a new path to her. No soul was present, and she could see a blinking light in the far back of the room. A silent alarm had been triggered, and it was obvious security was on it's way.

"Geez, why can't they just leave me alone..." Mikoto walked into the room, electricity hurling in every direction, blowing every peice of equipment up. She kept a smooth and steady pace, doing this was not a problem for her, it was the next part that was coming up. She lowered her hat to help cover her face, then, a door slid open, revealing special suited officers. They ran in, each carrying a rifle of an advanced degree. They took positions aiming at her, some crouched.

"Freeze!" the leader of the squad shouted.

Mikoto blinked dully at them. Using faceless soldiers to stop a level 5 esper, how slow are these people exactly? They haven't caught onto who she really is yet? Are they _that_ foolish? "Geez, it is always the same crap every building I walk into..." She looked to the ground, her hand opened straineously with a spark to add. One of the soldiers stared at her, wondering what was going to happen. "First, they send the hold up squad... you guys... then it is an elite armored unit from the outside, then... nothing else but a fire burning facility. If you wish to get out of here unharmed, then I'd suggest running now... I won't kill anyone, just the equipment." She looked up at them barely. "So... what is it going to be?"

"How about you surrender!?" said the leader, aiming his gun at her. Mikoto responded with a sigh.

"Really... again. Geez, are you all trained to say that? Fine..." Mikoto put her wrist to her hip. "If that is the way it has to be, then I'll follow through with my part of the act..." Electricity started to spawn from her feet, reaching higher and higher with each second. The leader's eyes shook with anxiety, fear of what the esper was going to do.

"F-Fire! Fire, fire, fire!"

At once, the squadron of men let loose a barrage of bullets. Flashes of blue and yellow light rebounded off the clean walls, rapid successions of bullet shells blanketed the floor as ear peircing noises rang forth from their weapons. They kept firing, the light was so blinding, they could not even see if they were hitting their target, and whether they were making any kind of hits or not.

Inside the flashes, Mikoto stood still as an electric shield curved each and every shot to the walls behind her sides. She blinked in a dull manner as they kept emptying their magazines. _These people obviously have no idea what an esper truly is capable of..._ Mikoto lifted her arm, then she let loose a volt that ranged to her group of targets, then, the flashes stopped. Smoke bellowed from their weapons which now lied on the ground next to the group of guards who too lied on the ground. Mikoto shook her head and walked forth, being sure to step over the people. No human being would get away with this insane experiment, not one doctor would escape her punishment.

Mikoto travelled through many various cubicle rooms and laboratories as she made her way down stairs, being sure to crush any obstacles in her path and destroy any kind of data and equipment that happened to find its way into her path. _I'm not sorry about this... I'm sorry at all..._ After two hours of constant destruction and constant obstacles, whether it be guards, heroic scientists and doctors, or machine bots, she finally reached the basement where they kept the clones in pods. Mikoto stared at the heavily armored mechanical door, pondering whether or not going inside and doing some damage would hurt her own in any sort of way.

"Well, going in to take a look shouldn't be a problem... After all, all of the other facilities had transferred them all somewhere else. So what could be different here..." the statement was not exactly a question, determining the fact she had seen this room more than a couple of times, so nothing she would find should surprise her. But there was always this nervous feeling one of those clones could be resting in one of those pods, being taught all kinds of "emotions", programs to take away her innocense. The esper cringed at the mere thought of it, programming a living being's mind.

"That's it!" With a spark, the blast door began its opening procedure. A rush of air blew passed the girl, her shirt flailing to her back wildly as a scraping noise entered her eardrums. Slowly, the heavy door shifted apart, and several more scientists were located on the otherside. They were shocked to see her, and in a second, it was literal. _Assholes..._ Mikoto stepped into the room and took a vague look around, seeing the familiar equipment. A CAT scanner, various monitors and expensive equipment, a table where they would sit one of her clones and give her various questions. The thought iritated her that these people saw them naked as well, she couldn't help but feel some how violated by it. With a shudder, she walked forth and came to what she feared most, the window which held a view of several, if not more than 20 flat pods where her clones would lie down and a recieve emotions.

She looked down, small beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Her eyes quickly and attentively scanned the room before her, she was honestly afraid one, or possibly even more could be down there. Her anxiety was at a peak, but a smile cracked in her nervous features.

"F-phew..." She stuttered, jittering slightly. She looked down with a crooked grin of relief. "No one is there. They must have already transferred them somewhere else... But that means I still have to find out where they are taking them all... I have to find them, I must save them from this insane fate." _No one should have to be born just to end up being killed by some maniac..._ Mikoto turned around with an exhausted frown on her face, then, lit the room up with lightning.

Small sweat drops fell onto the sidewalk in the night, an exhuasted Misaka Mikoto walked alongside it, her head to the ground. She had endured a lot of hard work, and tonight was supposed to be easy. She blinked at the dark ground, her legs started to buckle up, her breathing was becoming uneven, she felt like she had run through a thousand sprints, until finally, she let her body have its way, and she leaned against a dark corner, trying to hide the water in her eyes. An image of a girl came to her head, and then a blood pool. An insane laughter filled her mind's ears, and she slid down slowly in melancholy, trying to keep it together.

Another image bursted into her head, one of her sister and her, fighting over a childish button. Mikoto could remember them fighting, eating an icecream, only for it all to so suddenly end. A tear escaped her eye, this was not like her at all, but she only sighed and let it run down her cheek, the only lone tear that she would let escape. Mikoto kept her head down, the same images rushing through her head, the reality of it all still weighing her down. _Because of me, they are all dying..._ She sniffled. _They are dying... and all I can do is this? That's just... It is just..._ She shook her head as a drop of water hit her hat, startling her. Mikoto slowly glanced up, and another rain drop hit her cheek right below her eye.

Mikoto breathed in and out, trying to catch her breath from all of the chaos as rain drops started to fall faster and faster. "I can't help them... What are they supposed to do after all of it is done, huh?" Mikoto kept her head to the ground, the guilt would not lift from her spirit, it upset her. With a shake of her head, Mikoto pushed herself up, placing one hand on the building she was leaning on, then it slipped, sending the girl back down. She was exhausted as she breathed in again and again, still thinking about the many girls on her mind.

"Mikoto?"

The esper froze when she heard the familiar voice. Slowly, she looked up through the rain to find a silhoute of a girl holding an umbrella, then she came into view. Mikoto only blinked at her. "S-... Saten?"

The girl nodded. "Mikoto..." Saten kneeled next to her and wrapped a careful arm under hers, then she took Mikoto's arm and wrapped it around her neck, hoisting her up carefully. "Come on, I'm sure you're tired, aren't you?" Mikoto slowly got to her feet, wishing she didn't have to depend on her friend to do this. As the two slowly walked forth the raining sidewalk, Mikoto took a look at Saten with weary eyes. The level 0 had a sure smile on her face as they walked forth, then she looked at her. "Don't worry, alright? I'm taking you to my place and you can rest there... This is absolutely no trouble, okay?" She smiled more. "In times like this, rely on your friends, okay?"

Mikoto, who stared at the turning face of her dear friend, slowly nodded and lied her head into her neck, feeling the warmth against her cold stature.

Saten and Mikoto finally approached the door into Saten's dorm room. With a twist of a knob, she opened it and guided her weary and exhausted friend inside and lead her to a bed. "Here, sleep right here, alright? I'm going to get you something comfy to sleep in, so take off that wet clothing, you'll get sick if you stay in it."

Mikoto sat down on the floor and obliged, taking her shirt off first, then her undershirt as Saten pulled out some clothes from a drawer. The two got Mikoto changed into a big white T-shirt and Saten took Mikoto's latter clothing into her figure and hoisted them up as the electromaster climbed into the bottom bed.

"Okay, you get some sleep, I'm going to get these cleaned up. I'll be back shortly, so don't worry yourself."

Mikoto, who was getting a little hazy by now, nodded and slumped her head deep into the pillow, pulling the covers over herself. And slowly, little by little, her world faded and eventually turned black, pulling her into a deep sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note**: It is time for the encounter.

Chapter 5

Thunder clapped the sky in a bright flash as Mijuse sat in his room, tapping a mechanical pencil against his desk. Homework was tiresome, and boy was he ready to get it over with. Tonight was quite different from the normal, usually he'd be late or out getting some groceries by this time, but instead he was sitting here doing stupid school work.

"Heh..." He sighed longlively. What good was homework anyway? Was it a way to extend his daily torture at school. "Oh boy... This is just annoying..." Mijuse put the pencil down and stood up from his desk, only to walk towards the window and take a look outside. Water was streaming down from the dark sky above as the boy tilted his head to get a better look. _It's raining again..._

Why was it raining so much, it didn't make sense, then again, the weather around here never made sense. Even though the most sophisticated weather satelite in existance was stationed above the Earth, the Orehime I, not only could it predict weather to a 99% accuracy, but it was annoying hearing the constant forecasts. Rain here, rain there, it was disturbing to think every night would be filled with the same dribbling sound of water uninterruptingly tap against his bedroom window and the occasional thunder clap. "Geez, why does it have to be this way, can't we have clear night for once?"

The alarm annoyingly rang forth, instantly waking the esper from his night's sleep. His hand slapped the button on the alarm clock and he sat up quickly, his eyes refusing to fully adapt to his new condition, morning drowsiness. He shook his head and quickly got ready for the day. Not long ago, he had a goal, but being who he was, pursueing that goal would mean intruding on someone else's life and time, and that person being from a rich school and being the famous Railgun, and he being a boy, it would not work out too well. But, he kept a slightly optimistic approach about it, he was just nervous was all, but deciding to stay away from her was probably a smart decision.

After he was dressed in his usual attire, albiet it was slightly different from the school's uniform, plenty of other students had requirements too. Being a level 3 esper, he had power, offensive power to boot, but it was disturbed by typical clothing. He told his superiors about how the rough clothing made him feel uncomfortable and how small kinetic spheres would conjure up around him. It was a subcouncious defense against his discomfort the cloth caused, he had no idea how to form multiple kinetic sources at once, but if he ever figured out how to, his ability would increase much higher. So far, he could only control one source at a time, and the size it could be ranged from small to atleast a foot in diameter, which was good for someone of his level.

So, the school told him to wear polymer and comfortable clothing, like gym clothing. So, he wore soft grey pants and a white T-shirt. To add to style, he wore a nice black polymer jacket with the school's insignia implanted on his left breast side. The only offset was it attracted "special" attention from peers, attention he deemed as unnecessary. The school day was long, but for the most part, and it did not go as smooth as he thought it would either.

During his third period transition, a group of four tall kids had picked up on him today. Being small, he was easy to manuever and shove around, even if he was level 3, he still needed time to concentrate on his attacks, and since it was in school, he could not afford to damage it in any way, shape or form. So... he had to put up with it.

Mijuse stepped back against a locker, being surrounded by the four bullies. His face was nervous, and he did not know what to do.

"Alright, wierdo, it is time you hand over your due of the week." The toughest looking one said, holding his hand out. Mijuse looked down at it, then back up at him.

"Are you expecting anything?" He said it with a smart tone, almost like he knew what the boy wanted, he just didn't want to give it to him.

"Eh..." The tough guy twisted his head cockily and leaned in on him. "What did you say? Of course I expect something you little rodent! Give me my money, or I'll beat it out of you."

Mijuse, quite shakingly, planted his hands in his pockets and looked away with an awkward smile. "I-I I don't know what you're talking about. You must have the wrong number, but I'll take a message if you want, just say it after the b-beep, heh-heh... Beeeeep..." Mijuse chuckled lightly, still smiling and keeping his eyes from making any sort of contact. The bully raised an eyebrow.

"Do you take me for an idiot, you shrimp? Huh? What kind of joke is that? No I don't have the wrong number, you are who I want!"

"Whoa, fella." Mijuse put his hands up in defense. "I don't swing that way, so if you could ju-" A large fist plummetted into his left cheek, completely knocking him down.

"What did you say!?" the bully said, obviously irritated. Mijuse sat up on the floor with his right hand, holding his inflicted cheek with the other, his eyes shaking from the sudden shock and injury to his head. It hurt, it hurt so much, a tear almost came to his eye, but instead, he gritted his teeth. "I dare you to make such a rash assumption again, you little shit! Now, give me what I came for!"

At that moment, the bell rang for class, and several teachers started making their rounds to ensure all students got to class. Having no more time, the four students decided to leave the small boy to himself, vowing they'd see him again today for what he "owed" them. Mijuse only responded with a grit of his teeth to the floor and decided to return to class.

As all things do, the school day had ended, and considering the possibilities of what his day would be like further, he thought it would be a good idea to get away from the school and go grab a nice meal. Having saved up some money, he could buy something nice to fill his stomach.

Mijuse walked along side the sidewalk of District E with a smile on his face, somehow ignoring the dull soreness in his cheek, humming a nice tune he thought up or probably heard a while back and kept his hands in his pockets, until he heard familiar voices.

"Hey, taco-bell dog..." Mijuse stopped in his tracks and turned to the voice in the alley. It was that guy again, the one who stopped in him in the hallway. He cracked his knuckles. "It's time you pay up what is right fully mine. Now come in here."

Mijuse blinked at him as the other three cronies steadily took places behind and beside the boy, all with cocky grins on their faces. Mijuse took a look around at all of them, then at the leader. "You see, this is what is wrong with your statement. You have chosen to create an illusion that everyone in the world owes you something, that is wrong. Nobody owes you anything, especially not me, understand. However, I can give you something, but it is probably not something you are looking for, nor probably want it."

"Ha!" the leader yelled. "Whatever, you idiot. Just give me the cash I want and maybe we'll go easy on you for making it so hard on us." He cracked his knuckles harder, the other three following suit all with devilish chuckles of their own. Mijuse only blinked, then smiled in return.

The next morning was a nice one, and Mikoto was glad to greet it, though her setting was... unfamiliar. She sat up groggily in the bottom bunk of Saten Ruiko's room. This was the first time she had ever slept over at her house, and not having to worry about Kuroko bursting into her was a very good feeling. Getting up out of habit, the level 5 esper stood up and put on the clothes her friend had taken the time to get clean for her. She smiled as she wore them. _Thanks, Saten._ Taking a look over at the top bunk, she could see a figure in the covers moving up and down in a soothing and steady motion and pattern. Saten must not get up as early as she regularly does in the morning.

Mikoto, not being the kind to freeload off of people, took the time to write a small note for her friend, then feeling pleased with herself, opened the door, then walked out, being sure to lock it in the leave.

_"Thank you so much for last night, Saten. Meet me today at the cafe and we'll have a nice snack, my treat._

_ -Mikoto"_

Mikoto took a look at her clock, and then, with a jump of shock, she sped off! _8:13 already!? Are you kidding me, I slept in again!_ Mikoto was off, desperately trying to make up for lost time. She didn't know why though, but her body was somehow cooperating. It felt wierd to be this energized, especially after what she had done last night. _Could sleeping at Saten's place been more helpful than I thought?_ Mikoto didn't know, maybe she just got more sleep in because she only took out one facility instead of three or two. She sighed lightly, then continued forward.

As she finally reached the dorms, she ran into her room, got changed into her school uniform, then started for her classroom, the class she was already late for in the first place. It was 8:52 by the time she arrived, and needless to say, the teacher was not happy with her. Being Tokiwadia's Ace, she served as an example to the other students, whether she wished to or not. Being late to class was not setting a good example, obvious to say, and she recieved a lecture in front of her entire class, with Kuroko letting her head fall with every other word. When it came to following the rules of Tokiwadia, not even the level 5 Railgun was an exception.

As the day dragged on though, Mikoto could feel her drained and exhausted energy finally coming back, but it was no where near as bad as yesterday. Maybe today was just one of those rare good days she hardly found anymore. She smiled at that thought, and that was what kept her going until school was out.

Kuroko was pressuring questions onto her "onee-sama", questions about her absense the entire morning and whether or not she actually understood her position within her peers at school as they were heading for the Judgement Branch #177, but of course, Mikoto would wave off the questions with the obvious answers, and they left it at that. At the branch; however, Konori, the senior branch officer, had decided to put Uiharu and Kuroko on a patrol duty around District E and F. Mikoto and Saten thought it would be fun to accompany them for a little while, so they walked along behind the two, each pair carrying on a conversation.

Saten walked beside Mikoto, and turned her direction. "So, Mikoto, you seem to be in a much livelier mood than usual."

"Huh, oh, yeah... I guess you're right about that." Mikoto confirmed, scratching her hair lightly. "I do seem to feel much better today, I don't necessarily understand it though, it is strange."

Kuroko took attention to the conversation and turned her head towards her upperclassman. "Onee-sama, it is not good for your hair if you scratch it like that. Here..." Kuroko reached behind her and pulled out a nice pink comb. "Allow me... As your lover in life, I must attend to your-" In a second, Mikoto's fist had done hammered the noggin of Kuroko's head once, which in Kuroko responded by holding the affected area of pain, rubbing it in a futile attempt to message it.

"Kuroko, how many times do I have to say it... We're not lovers..."

"But, Onee-sama... We have to allow our bodies to consumate sooner or later, being as close as we are..." Kuroko held her head as she straightened her posture. Uiharu laughed at the statement.

"Geez, Kuroko, you can be just as stubborn as Misaka when you really wish to be."

"Like I said..." Mikoto crossed her arms. "Kuroko and I are just good friends, nothing more, but something less can probably be arranged if she tried putting her perverted hands all over me again like she was going to do a couple of nights ago..."

Kuroko smiled deviously. "Who said anything like "was going to", hmm?" Mikoto's eyes opened up in realization of what she meant, then she sent out a spark.

"What do you mean by that?"

Kuroko giggled slightly. "I already touched you everywhere!" she yelled it with delight and took a running retreat behind Saten's side.

"Kuroko!" Mikoto shouted in anger. "What did you do to me!?" Saten wore an awkward smile during the entire debacle. This couldn't be anymore like one of the normal days they used to have weeks ago before Mikoto's wierd behavior set in. "I swear if you touched anywhere you were not welcome, I'm going to shock some brain cells into formation, you little..."

"Now, now you two..." Saten began, putting up hands in defense. "Ladies shouldn't act this way in public. You two should really just duke it out in a park or something." Saten gave a nod of approval. "Ooh! And we could hold ticket sales too, a level 4 teleporter versus the level 5 Railgun, who will win in this match of extranomical proportions!? Uiharu, your guess?" Saten leaned over to her as Mikoto continued to chase the teleporter, sending little shocks out over short periods of time, very short periods.

"Um, Saten, I believe you may have taken it a little far there with that idea..." Uiharu gave a nervous chuckle as Mikoto finally caught her underclassman, wrapping Kuroko's right arm around her neck and to her back, keeping her facing the other way. Mikoto was giving a devilish smile of satisfaction as she teasingly pulled at Kuroko's arm, hurting her slightly.

"Tell me what you did... Kuroko..." Mikoto said with another slight yank.

"I-I only did what was g-good for my Onee-sama~!" Kuroko recieved a slight shock, causing Uiharu and Saten to wince, Saten with a smile.

"And exactly what does that mean in _your_ taste!?" Mikoto practically yelled it. Kuroko gave a slight laugh until a disturbing sound hit her ears. The group stopped as grunts and smashes could be heard in a distance, catching their attention. "Hey, do you guys hear that?"

Kuroko nodded. "It sounds like a fight. As a member of Judgement, I must put a stop to it! Come on, Uiharu, let's go!" Uiharu nodded and the two ran off, with Mikoto and Saten following right behind. It was not that far of a run, but as Kuroko turned into the alley, her eyes widened. "Oh my..."

A fist plummeted into a larger kids face, the fist belonged to the extended arm of a smaller boy dressed in polymer clothes. He retracted it before jumping up and spinning to kick another kid coming from behind him into a stack of hollow boxes. He smiled at himself as he landed until the first guy came from behind him and sent a punch hurling into the back of his head. the boy cried out breifly as he stumbled forth to recieve another punch into his gut, then a joined fist slam to his back from the same larger male.

The small boy plummeted onto his stomach in the ground, holding the afflicted area. Kuroko had decided she'd seen enough, and spread her legs slightly, butting forth her shoulder with a green armband and held it high. "Cease your actions, I'm a member of Judgement and I am placing you under arrest for assault!"

The larger males looked their direction as Uiharu hid herself behind Mikoto.

"Oh no, those are boys from our school. They are a grade higher than us, I can't face them..." Mikoto looked over at her with her eyes, taking a nuetral stance in the matter then turned back to them.

"Eh, Judgement?" the leader questioned, putting dirty hands in his pockets. The boy on the ground started to push himself up, gritting his teeth and his body shaking all the while he tried. "What the fuck are you here for anyway, kid? Get lost, this is business."

"This may be business, but this is the first I've seen that has been handled in such violent manner." That was just a fancy line, in which Mikoto responded with by lightly scratching her chin and looking up to the sky with a crooked grin. "I order you to let the kid go and accompany me to our holding cell. Believe me, you do not want to get tangled with me. I am Shirai Kuroko of Tokiwadai Middle School, and dancing with me would be a bad idea." Kuroko smiled to herself, that line was kickass. _Maybe I just impressed Onee-sama, ooh I can't wait to hear what she says about this!_

"What the? Look, we haven't done anything wrong, the dildo here owes us money, and that's all..."

"Oh really?" Mikoto butted in, putting a hand to her hip. "How much did he take from you?" The boy started getting up in the background, but then he froze.

The small boy's eyes were wide with astonishment. _I recognize that voice. No, it couldn't be her, it couldn't, I can't let her see me like this!_ He turned his head her direction only for his eyes to widen. _It is her, Misaka Mikoto!_

"Well..." The leader put a hand behind his head. "You see, he didn't take anything from us, we just kinda... did something for him..."

"That's a flat lie." Kuroko said, disappointed. "I was hoping you would say something else, but your brain is probably only the size of peanut... It is to be expected after all, from thugs like you."

"What did you say about me, you hair ball!" The man stepped forth, obviously angered, as the boy behind them stood up slowly. Mikoto took notice to him.

"Hmm?"

Mijuse glared up at the individuals surrounding him. "Hey..." The group of guys turned his direction.

"What, you're up already?"

Mijuse ticked up and down in anger, and small little chips from the ground began to rise up. "You should have just left me alone, you stupid idiots. This is not school anymore, the only reason I held back was to not cause in problems, but... now I have no choice."

"Heh, what are you saying?" The leader turned to him. "How about I beat you to a pulp to remind you of just who we are?"

In an instant, Mijuse let out a loud scream, suddenly stretching his head to look up as his body became slightly exposed, and a large kinetic wave erupted from his body, knocking everyone around him, including the group of girls, out of the alley, and the boys into the walls in a harsh manner, each being knocked unconcious.

Mijuse panted heavily, his arms hung down his sides as he tried to catch his breath. Saten, Mikoto, and Kuroko sat up in the sidewalk, Uiharu being the last to stand and they looked at the small boy. Saten blinked, watching the boy as he walked out. "W-what did he do?"

Mikoto walked over to him. "Hey, are you okay?"

"Hmm?" Mijuse turned to her. "Y-yeah. I'm fine. I didn't hurt you, did I?"Saten laughed as she rubbed her arm. "Nah, none of us got hurt, right?" Saten looked around to Kuroko, then Uiharu, who nodded in return. "That was a strong pulse, what did you do?"

"It's my power, I can control and generate my own kinetic forces. I am able to manipulate and condense kinetic energy to do all sorts of things, though unfortunately, most of my abilities lack in control. So... I have little do with what I can make... It is something the ability developers who've worked on me call Smooth Stream... That's my esper name." Mijuse held up a finger and pointed to himself, then he leaned back against a wall, holding his shoulder.

Mikoto took notice to his exhaustion. Was he actually tired or hurt she wondered. He was just in a fight against four upperclassmen. Sure he was an esper, but it seemed like he took some good damage during that quarrel. "Um, you're not hurt, right?"

Mijuse looked up to her. "Hmm? Oh, um, not really, a little sore, but not hurt." Mijuse turned his head to the streets. Other citizens were straying around with no kind of destination of interest to him. "But I guess I better just get out of your way now, seeing as I need to go to my room and sleep this off."

Mikoto watched as he picked himself off the wall and started limping forward and away, but when he almost fell over, Mikoto rushed to his aid. "Hey, are you sure you are feeling well?"

The boy looked over at her. "Y-yeah... No, not really. I'm hurt, I guess..." He stumbled forth in the level 5's arms as Mikoto held onto him.

"Hey, don't give out, it was only a little fight..." Mijuse chuckled lightly.

"A little fight, there were _four_ of them... and you only came around when the last two were standing..." Mikoto scratched her head, then helped him balance.

"Alright, I guess you have a point there. How about I take you to the hospital or something?" Mijuse silently nodded, then Mikoto started to help him go forward. Saten and Uiharu decided they would follow, and Kuroko shook her head.

"Seriously, Onee-sama. You barely know this boy and you are going to take him to the hospital?" Kuroko started after them with two hands on her hips.

"Well, any good citizen would, I believe..." Mikoto said, giving her a glare. "What does it matter to you anyway?"

"Uh!" Kuroko's eyes darted in one direction to the other as she wore an awkward smile. "N-nothing, Onee-sama, nothing at all, hehehehee..." Mikoto narrowed her eyes at her suspiciously before carrying on with helping the smaller boy.

"So... what's your name by the way?"

"What?" Mijuse looked over at her with his eye. "Oh, I see..."

"Hmm?" Mikoto looked down at him as his face lowered with a pitiful smile.

_So, she doesn't remember me after all..._ "Well, my name... It's Mijuse..."

"Mijuse..." Mikoto said slowly. The name sounded familiar, like she had heard it from some faraway place. She must have overheard it somewhere while she was taking care of some business, then a dark image hit her, one of herself and a boy with a glowing eye standing in a dark area. _"My name is Mijuse, Mijuse Hikan."_ Mikoto looked down at him. Yes, his face did look familiar, as well as his hair and eye. "Oh, so you're that boy I met back on the bus that night, right?"

Mijuse smiled. "That's correct."

Mikoto chuckled, she was embarrassed for forgetting his name just after hearing it. "I'm sorry, I was pretty tired an-"

"I know, don't feel bad about it, I'm bad with names too..." Mijuse looked down. "Besides, I'm just some face you probably won't ever see again..." Mikoto's smile faded as the two stopped, halting the group following them. She could recall those words from somewhere.

_Oh, that's right..._ Mikoto glanced to the ground. _Those were __**my**__ last words to him..._ "Um, you're not mad, are you?"

"What?" Mijuse turned up to her. "No... Not really, what can I say, I'm sure you have a lot of names to remember. It's no wonder mine would get lost in there, ehehehee..." He smiled weakly.

"Um, listen, how about I try to make it up to you?"

"It's just a na-"

"It doesn't matter, I need... something to do for a little while and I figure it'd be nice to try to make a new friend at least..."

"But, Mikoto?" Uiharu said, cutting into the conversation. "You haven't exactly hanged out with us either, are you sure you can manage that?"

Mikoto turned to her with a smile. "And I'm really sorry, Uiharu, but maybe something fresh could help me get my mind off of some things. I have an idea, why don't we all see about getting together tomorrow for some sort of training."

"Training?" Saten said, looking up. "I don't know... me training would be pretty useless, and it's boring too. Why don't we do something fun?" Mikoto let her head fall.

"You're right, that was pretty dumb, huh?"

Mijuse just looked over at her, then picked himself off of the esper, who was surprised by his sudden action. "Um... Thanks for the help... Misaka..."

"So you remembered my name..." Mikoto said, standing across his sight now. Mijuse nodded, his small smile gone.

"Like I said, I don't exactly have many people to depend on... but you've given me strength, I thought I should thank you for that..."

"Given you strength, how?" Mikoto tilted her head in question as Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko came up from behind her.

Mijuse sighed and looked to the street, averting his gaze. "I'm picked on regularly in school by older people, the reasons are of those I don't wish to explain... I've tried to ignore the things they say, the abuse I recieve and the crap I never get to live down because of things out of my control... but after meeting you... A level 5 esper... After seeing your condition and how exhausted you must have been, the injuries on your body and everything..."

Mikoto looked around nervously, as Kuroko's eye twitched.

"You saw Onee-sama's body..." she told herself under her breath.

"And you still chose to continue taking on the challenge ahead of you, I told myself I would be more like you..." Mikoto stumbled slightly, those words were not what she expected.

_More like me? He wants to be more like me..._ Mikoto's eyes shook slightly, then she looked down in a scowl. "More like me, huh? Listen... you don't want to be more like me..." Images, horrible images of blood, bodies, and Accelerator came to her mind. "I'm not all you think I am... I've done horrible things, things no normal or even good human being would do-"

"But you're taking responsibility, aren't you!?" Mijuse told her, regaining Mikoto's attention. Uiharu looked back between Mijuse and her friend, wondering what she was talking about.

"Mikoto, what are you talking about?"

"Yeah..." Saten cut in. "You don't know what you are saying, you're a good person, a very good person, one I look up to a lot..."

Mijuse let his limbs relax. "You are strong, caring, gentle with others... You have an unwavering will from what I saw that night, and you are overcoming obstacles and setting things right you seem to have set wrong. Why wouldn't anyone want to be more like _that_, huh!?"

"I-... I-"

Mijuse could see she had nothing more to say, so he let his attitude fall. "Look, I don't mean to be... mean, it's just you encouraged me, whether you knew it or not just by being there. I don't want to just stand around and take it all anymore, I want to do something about it, but I can't because my power is..." He lifted his hand and gazed into it. He knew what it was, what was wrong with his ability. "... uncontrollable..."

Mikoto looked down to the sidewalk. Was what he said true, all of that good stuff about her, could it all be true, despite the fact that so many clones she was responsible for were dying, probably even this very minute? There is no way, she could not view herself as something so noble. "You..."

Mijuse sighed again. "I can see all of this is of being no help, I guess I should just be on my way."

Mikoto quickly glanced up to him as the level 3 esper turned to walk away with his shoulders sagging down almost as if he was disappointed. "Wait!"

Mijuse stopped and half turned towards. Kuroko was left in confusement, what could her onee-sama want from such a weakling like him?

"Something up?"

"I..." Mikoto didn't know what it was, but she didn't want him to leave just like that, to leave so empty. He seemed like he needed someone, and being the level 5 Railgun, she had to do something to redeem her of her mistake, even if it was something little. "I want you to stay here... with us!"

Mijuse's eyebrows went up in astonishment. Did he hear right or was it just an illusion? "What... did you say?"

Mikoto swallowed hard and deep. This was embarrassing, it wasn't like she had any kind of feelings towards him, he just seemed like the dependable type, someone you'd want on your side and aid incase something went wrong. A friend is what she wanted from him. After that encounter with him on the bus and now, he was the type of person that needed someone like her and her friends, and she needed someone who would not constantly worry over her, someone she could just be cool around and hang out with. Sure, Kuroko fit the bill, but that teleporter would never let a moment be without trying to cling onto her in some way or fashion.

"I said... that I would like it if you would come eat with us..."

Mijuse blinked, then he looked up. "Yeah, sure..." A smile slowly formed on his face. "I'd love to."

**Author's Note: I tried to write this in a different way, but doing this was the best way I could think of, I wanted Mijuse to have some sort of encounter with the group and eventually start to hang out with them and develope a friendship with Mikoto for story purposes. There might have been better ways to write this, but this is what I came up with.**

**Please continue to review, and please no flames or spam, those belong in the army.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note**: Enter in a new perspective. What, you didn't think I'd leave _this_ guy out did you? No... he's one of my favorite character, if not my favorite!

Update Edit: I'm gonna guess you have to replace the chapter to update it... Dang it.

Chapter 6

_Doing it all the time gets old eventually..._

Walking in the dead of night was a certain teenager with pale skin, snow white moppy hair, and small red eyes. He wore a long-sleeved white shirt with dark grey angular stripes pointed down in a sort of arrow fashion in the middle of his chest. He had dark grey-blue pants, the color had obviously faded from them. He was walking on the sidewalk with a small white plastic bag in his hand filled with small goods. Despite his latest activities, the boy actually lead a pretty normal life, as normal as one for the number 1 Esper in Academy City could live, Accelerator.

_How does killing so many living beings advance me from one stupid level to the next, I don't understand it..._

Accelerator was walking at a slow steady pace to his apartment. Small street lights paved the way on the sidewalk as many adults walked past him. Yes, it was pass curfew, but why should he care, after all, he was number one in the whole city, it was his playground, so to speak. Yet the esper didn't view the city as such, infact, he viewed it as his home, it was those insane scientists that saw it as a playground, and him as nothing more than a stupid tool.

_I can still remember their faces, every single one of them... If only one of them, just one would say what I've been wanting to hear, it could all stop..._

Step after step, the esper tredged on through the city, not bothering to speak to a soul. Across the street though, a certain someone wearing glowing green goggles of a military and expensive grade was eyeing him. Accelerator shook his head to his thoughts.

_Sure, the thought of gaining more power and fear through obtaining the unreachable level six is very persuasive, but if there was another way to do it, I'd rather go that route. It's not like I can't say no, it's just..._

He sighed on the inside, why was he doing this anyway? What could they do to force him, was this seriously the only way to obtain a level of which absolutely no one would even _think_ about picking a fight with him, killing 20,000 innocent young girls? _If there is another way, somebody please tell me..._

Then, he could hear something, something that stood out from the usual outside noise. Footsteps, as if someone was rushing at specifically him. It was no surprise, people attacked him from behind all of the time, maybe it was just more stupid espers thinking they could pick a fight with him. Accelerator silently activated his barrier, expecting the attack to come...

Nothing happened.

"Hmm?" He let down his guard and turned his head to see a girl in a Tokiwadai uniform wearing military grade goggles walking shortly behind him. "Well, what's this?" Accelerator ceased his movement and turned to face her. "You must have a death wish, what are you, the next one, you stupid clone?"

The girl who looked identical to the Level 5 Railgun, Misaka Mikoto shook her head. "No, I am the Serial Number 10032. The next experiment is trial number 10007, reports MISAKA as she corrects and clarifies the boy's statement." She tilted her head with a stern gaze towards him. "You are very late for it. MISAKA 10007 is still waiting patiently at the determi-"

"Oh, that's right." Accelerator said with a smile. He face palmed in a sarcastic manner. "Yeah, you see, unlike what those scientist may think and unlike you idiots, I have a life to live, so tell her I won't be attending today's meeting and we'll call it a night. If that's all, good bye-"

"You must go there to initiate the experiment, orders MISAKA as she blocks the rude boy's path." Misaka 10032 was now infront of him, her arms stretched out. Accelerator appeared to be in a dull mood, then he sighed.

"Wow, I didn't think you all were so ready to die..." He scratched his hair and looked up with his eyes in an annoyed manner. "Listen, is it too much to ask for a break or something, I'm not exactly enjoying-" No, he couldn't let them know that. Accelerator shook his head and lifted his arm to the intersection far away from him. "Go away, I don't want to talk to you."

"Fine, then go to the destination the experiment has been prepared at, order's MISAKA not letting him get away."

Accelerator looked into her empty eyes, they were determined, but for what? Didn't they realize that he was only going to kill them all, and yet here one was ordering him to go slay her sister? _This is insane, this entire thing is insane... I've already killed __**over 9000**__ of them, can't I just stop for a night!?_ His eyes absently trailed down to her waist and her stomach. The brown vest seemed to fit nicely, but then again, weren't all girl uniforms tailored specifically to fit them and show off their good points? Accelerator scoffed at the thought, the teachers here were more perverse than he thought if they secretly do that to feed their carnal eyes everyday.

"Aren't you hungry at all?"

The clone's eyes softened. "What kind of question is that, asks MISAKA as she was not expecting to recieve such a statement?"

"Don't you guys ever eat or anything, ever just hang out or enjoy the scenery or _anything_? Or do you all just sit back waiting for me to kill you, because you are never going to beat me, so why try? Why don't you just-" The girl put a flat palm up to his face.

"Stop right there, orders MISAKA as she puts a hand to your face to illustrate her point. I will repeat, you are late for the experiment."

Accelerator slapped the hand down and most importantly, away from him. "Get that disgusting thing out of my face, don't you have any civility at all? You're just a bunch of lab rats, aren't you, you view yourselves as nothing more, isn't that right?"

"That's right, MISAKA clarifies his question."

"Then let's try talking like we're not lab rats, okay?"

"What do you mean by "we're", asks MISAKA as she innocently tilts her head in confusion."

_This is annoying..._ Accelerator reached into his bag and pulled out a peice of packaged bread. "Here, why don't you try eating something for once in your life..." He held out the peice of bread to the MISAKA clone, who looked at it as if it was the first time she had ever seen anything. The boy raised an eyebrow, then shook it slightly. "Go ahead, take it... or have you never seen this before?"

"What are you doing, inquires MISAKA..." She lifted her gaze up to Accelerator's face which had not changed.

"I'm trying to give you something to leave me alone, now go home..."

"But what about th-"

"I said I'm not going tonight! How many times do I have to tell you before it sinks into your thick skull, and believe me, I know how thick it is!" Accelerator was now becoming annoyed, he never thought anyone would be so willing to throw their life away as if it was an everyday thing, he sweared he would never understand the thinking of these girls, never. "Now, take the damn thing and get away from me."

The girl sighed and slowly took the bread. With another scoff, Accelerator turned around to walk away. MISAKA 10032 looked back up to his back and ran to his side.

"Oh..." Accelerator groaned. "What now?.."

"Nothing, MISAKA just wanted to walk next to you, says MISAKA as she lifts the bread to her mouth nonchallently. She has never seen you like this before..."

"Well, believe it or not, I'm not just a cold merciless killer, however, that doesn't mean I won't think twice about continueing to get rid of all you should the time come..." He sighed on the inside, truthfully, he was starting to feel more worse the more and more he killed, just like all of those kids in that special facility he grew up in. There was never a time in his life he could just live normally, people all around him wanted him to do nothing but kill, kill, kill... He wished at least one of them would say something, like "Stop" or "No more". But no, they never did, he did not want to stop it himself, lest he lose his fearful image, but he did not want to continue this mindless killing.

"So, you do not wish to fight MISAKA tonight, even though you've won three matches today?"

"Three is good enough for me, tell her I'll be by later if she still wants to fight... Now, what about you? Are you going to leave me alone now, or what?"

The clone looked down to the ground. "MISAKA 10007 is now leaving the testing area, but the higher ups will not be pleased with this turn of events, it will ruin the entire schedule, says MISAKA as she tried to clear her own confusion."

"So, let them work harder. What can they possibly do to you or me? They need you in top condition to fight me, right? And they can't do _anything_ to me, so all's good..." Accelerator smiled at his ability to even manipulate the scientists to bend to his will as well. If they were going to suck up all of his valuable time, he'd atleast make them work a little harder than they should have to. "Now, if that is enough, I'll be seeing you later." He started walking off as the clone stopped in the middle of the sidewalk. She had no idea what to think anymore except to wait.

Accelerator kept his pace forward. _It's not like I don't like killing them... I'll do what I have to change my life... Absolute power, how does anyone refuse that?_ A smile crept across his face.

In a wide ranged park in Area E, a group of teenagers were gathered. Dark green grass coated the land as trees provided various shadings. People jogged up and down the long curving paths and others merely sat on benches, some of them couples. Meanwhile, Mikoto was standing infront of Mijuse, who seemed to be having a hard time. Saten sat on top of a bench eating one of her favorite treats, a crepe while Uiharu and Kuroko, who looked rather iritated, sat correctly on said bench.

"Come on, you have to focus your power..." Mikoto said with boastful smile. "How can you expect to gain control of it if you can't even alter your own kinetic momentum?"

Mijuse shook his head. "This is not the same, I've never altered _my _kinetic force before."

"Well, you have to start somewhere. I'm surprised you can already control and create new forces outside of your body, but you should atleast be able to alter the forces which move you easily..."

"Ok, I'll try again." Mijuse took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. _I have to concentrate. She makes it seem like this is easy, but for me, this is like slamming down a brick wall. I've never thought about altering my own kinetic forces, but what good could that do for me?_ His surrounding became dark as only the people around him stayed lit. Mikoto kept her ground. _I said I'd get stronger, and now I have the Railgun helping me. There is no way I'm going to let this opportunity go to waste. Now... feel for the force, imagine the molecules... Just what exactly does she want me to do?_

Mikoto could see he was trying to concentrate really hard, but it appeared he was still lost. _What is he thinking about anyway? _Mikoto crossed her arms in a slightly impatient manner, but nothing was happening.

"Hey, Mikoto?" Mijuse said, opening his eyes and looking over to her.

"Huh? What?"

"Just... what exactly should I be able to do with my controlled kinetic forces?"

Mikoto smiled. "Wow, even Saten could tell you that. Anyway, what do kinetic forces do?"

"Move... stuff?"

"Correct. What I want you to do is manipulate your own force to give you a gain in speed."

"Oh... okay. I'll try again." Mijuse closed his eyes as Saten took another bite of her crepe.

"Wow, I didn't imagine that gaining new abilities was hard for an esper."

Mikoto scratched her head. "Yeah, but the hardest part is discovering if you have an ability at all. But you do Saten, you remember when you used the Level Upper, right? Did you get anything?"

"Um..." Saten wore an awkward smile as she remembered that day. _The day I betrayed the trust of my friends and cheated my way up..._ "Yeah... I do."

"All that thing did was open up your mind so you could create your own personal reality, something essential to all espers. The reason it worked is because you **believed** it would, so you should try believing in yourself with just as much anticipation and I promise you'll be able to use your ability again." Mikoto brought down a fist for emphasis. Saten could only chuckle.

"I'll think about it."

And with a sigh, Mikoto turned away to Mijuse, who still stood in the same position. _Okay, let's see if you can do this._

Mijuse's mind was shaking, it was hard to gain access to the forces within his body. _I've been able to erupt forces from my body, but never control the forces inside. If I can do this... then maybe... Wait a minute... that's it!_ Mijuse imagined what would happen if he gave himself a small eruption. _A boost!_ He opened his eyes. "I think I may have it."

Mikoto smiled. "Good, now come at me!"

Mijuse took in a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing!" Mijuse started sprinting at her, but nothing extraordinary happened. _Okay, now!_ Suddenly, the boy's body started to cover a greater distance, he was gaining speed without making his body work harder.

Mikoto began to smile as his speed increased. "Looks like he did it-" Her smile faded as Mijuse hit the ground face first. He slided slightly and twitched. "Oh..." Mikoto face palmed. "Well... atleast you did that... Way to ruin the moment."

"Hey, it's like riding a bike, okay, you fall a few times!" Mijuse yelled as he picked his face off from the ground. Saten and Uiharu were laughing as Kuroko bit a handkerchif she held in both of her hands.

"Darn it, that boy's getting all of Onee-sama's attention..."

"Huh, what did you say, Shiria?" Uiharu asked.

"Oh, nothing concerning you."

Mikoto clapped her hands. "Okay, get up, let's try it again." Mijuse slowly picked himself up, limb by limb. "Come on, you're too slow."

_She's acting just like a training official, geez._ Mijuse stood up and brushed off dirt from his clothes.

"Okay, now, come at me again. Do not trip this time."

Mijuse nodded. "I'll try not to." The boy readied himself, then dashed off. Mikoto was surprised he was practically flying at her now.

"Whoa, how did you-" Once again, Mijuse fell over and hit the ground. He only traveled 20 feet. "Uh..."

"Ow, ow, ow, ow..." Mijuse sat up, his visible eye closed. "Geez, now that hurt..."

"How did you do that, that looked just like..." An image of the white haired albino boy came to her mind, it was Accelerator. The image conjured up even more images of her dead clones, the sisters, then Mijuse spoke up, interrupting her flashback.

"I figured the reason I fell was because I kept interrupting the kinetic forces behind my speed every time my feet hit the ground, so maybe if I could lessen that number of times, I'd gain more control... but that is not working either..."

Mikoto gulped. What was she helping here? Was she helping to make another monster who would eventually start killing people? Mikoto shook her head. _No, he's a good kid. He wouldn't start causing trouble to people, if anything, he may start stopping it. I'll just have to make sure he learns the right morals._ "Well, maybe you could try something else. In order to do what you was, you'd need to be able to control vectors, what you are doing is nothing like that. You are-"

"Just altering my kinetic momentum, I know. Let's keep trying though, I've already gotten something new, I just need to keep trying new things until I can find which method will work for me."

Mikoto nodded. "That's right. Now, go back and try again, your goal is to reach me in ten seconds, got it?" Mijuse nodded.

A sigh came from the boy's mouth. "Today was hard..." Mijuse held his shoulder as he walked to his dorm. Curfew was almost in effect. He had almost gained full control after five long hours of tortorous trial and error attempts of manipulating his own kinetic forces. He found a good method of creating a new force against his body and controlling it's explosion to give him a rapid speed boost, and when he messed up and came a little _too_ close to Mikoto, a certain teleporter swooped in and drop kicked him in his right shoulder. Apparently, she could gain great force from her teleportation or it is just she kicked him at the right time. It still didn't matter, it hurt.

"I can't believe it though... My abilities are actually advancing." Little by little today, he learned so much about himself he hadn't even thought of. "Just by merely altering my personal reality only a little and I learned something new. I can actually do things..." Mijuse lifted his hand and conjured up a small cyan glowing sphere. He put his hand down as it started to hover up. _Move up._ The sphere followed his mental command. "By thinking that the sphere will move up, it does, and the same goes with the other directions... Soon, if I can learn many other things, I'll be able to become a level 4 Esper!"

Mijuse balled his fists in excitement. _Thanks so much, Misaka! I can't wait for tomorrow!_ The esper laughed under his breath in excitement. Hanging out with Mikoto and the others was so cool, he never even thought something like that could happen, to _him_ of all people. If only that girl knew how much she changed his life. Mijuse went forward on the sidewalk when suddenly, a girl in a Tokiwadai Middle uniform caught his attention. He raised an eyebrow.

_What the heck? What's she doing here?_ Mijuse stared at the girl, it was Mikoto Misaka. _But, didn't I leave her back at the park, or did her friend teleport her all the way over here._ Mijuse approached Mikoto at a slow pace. He peered over at a slanted angle to see she was checking out a machine which dispensed buttons.

"Hello?"

Mikoto turned to the boy with a blank face, not bothering to get off of her knees.

"Um, hi, Mikoto. What are you doing here, I thought you were going home?"

Mikoto blinked. "MISAKA came from that way..." Mikoto pointed to the cross-intersection far to her left. Mijuse followed her hand, it was in the direction he was going, but that didn't make any sense. "... says MISAKA as she points the direction she came from."

"What?" Mijuse lifted an eyebrow. "What's with this sudden "Misaka" thing, that's the first time I ever heard you doing that?"

"What do you mean, this is the first MISAKA has ever laid eyes on you, says MISAKA as she looks the short boy up and down."

Mijuse scratched his head and looked away. "I see, you're embarrassed to know someone like me in public, huh?" He let his head down. "I should have figured..."

"Perhaps you are referring to Onee-sama, says MISAKA as she is confused by the stranger's lines of conversation. We have never engaged in activity before."

"Onee-sama? Wait, so you are not Mikoto?" Mijuse stood at astonishment. "What are you, her twin sister or something?"

Mikoto stood up. "Onee-sama is my Onee-sama, says MISAKA as she tries to clear up a misunderstanding."

The boy let his head down. _She completely avoided the question._ "Okay... so I'm just gonna guess you are her twin sister. Well, this is the first I've seen of you, come to think of it, she never even mentioned a sister..." Mijuse put a finger to his chin, and then laughed. "Well, what can I expect, we've only known eachother for a day... Hehehe..." He smiled at her. "Anyway, my name is Mijuse Hikan, nice to meet you." He held a hand out to her.

The twin sister blinked and looked at him. "The feeling is not mutual, you are bugging me. Go away, requests MISAKA."

Mijuse put his hand down. "Wow, that was... blunt. Anyway, you got a name or something?"

"This MISAKA is 10007, says MISAKA as she clarifies her name."

"I'm guessing the parents didn't want a twin... So, do you and Mikoto live together or something? The dorms are _pretty_ far away and curfew is about to start soon."

"MISAKA is allowed to stay out after curfew, says MISAKA as she looks to a street clock." Mijuse too turned towards the clock to see it was 7:12 PM.

_Damn, it's pass curfew..._ Mijuse folded his arms behind his head. "Oh man... I didn't realize it was this late..."

"Do you have a schedule to keep too, asks MISAKA as she ponders about the boy's predicament." The girl tilted her head slightly.

"Nah, I stay out late all the time anyway... I was just worried about you because I hear that the Tokiwadai dorms are pretty strict with the rules they have. I just didn't want you to get in trouble."

"I will not. But what about you? Do you live in a dorm?"

Mijuse scratched his cheek. "Eh, it won't really matter. I'm already in mountains of trouble with the dorm manager about that right now, so staying out continuously isn't really going to affect anything." Mijuse looked at the button dispenser. "Anyway... what were you doing here?"

"Nothing, MISAKA was just thinking about Onee-sama is all..." The sister looked over at the device as well. Mijuse watched her as she kept staring at the machine.

_Is something wrong? Eh..._ Mijuse looked away. _I can deal with it if I have problems, no doubt. I've grown use to the crap life has to offer, but to see other people suffering... I can't help but feel even worse._ "I'm going to guess you and your big sister don't get to see eachother that much, do you?"

The twin turned her head to him instantly.

Mijuse nodded. "Yeah, I bet that's the case. You must live all the way out here for some strange reason and she all the way over there. You do know there are like four hours after school to go meet people, and it is no more than a two hour walk to her dorms, thirty minutes if you take the bus..."

Mikoto's sister blinked. "MISAKA... will never be able to meet Onee-sama..."

Mijuse snapped his head to her. "Hmm?" _What did she say?_ He blinked. "What was that?"

"MISAKA will not be able to meet Onee-sama... repeats MISAKA with a heavy heart..." The girl looked to the ground. "MISAKA has a schedule to keep tonight, she must say good bye."

"Um..." Mijuse watched as she turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. "Wait!"

"Hmm? What? Asks MISAKA as she turns to look at the annoying curious boy."

His eye twitched. _She's awfully open about her thoughts, that's for sure..._ "Listen, how about we grab a bite to eat right quick before you go on your way? I've got Mikoto on my speed dial incase you'd like to talk to her or something."

She turned around. "MISAKA would like to endulge in a meal before she heads off, admits MISAKA as she bows to accept the boy's request." She bowed, leaving Mijuse with an uncomfortable feeling. A slight breeze blew through the air. "Thank you..."

He blinked. "U-uh..."

...

"You're welcome?"


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note**: I made a small mistake concerning MISAKA's serial number. By the time I update this story with this chapter, I should have it fixed. Please forgive me. ;)

Chapter 7

Mijuse and the younger twin sister of Mikoto Misaka who called herself 10007 were sitting in a small cafe. Mijuse had two of his fingers wrapped around the handle of a small cup filled with hot cocoa as he watched the girl he took to the cafe elegantly cut a cake with a fork, then stick it into her mouth.

_I have to say, she's much more feminine than her older sister, that's for sure._

Mijuse looked down at the vanilla cake sitting on the small plate infront of her. "So... why milk tea?"

She swallowed. "Milk tea is delicious, says MISAKA, answering the boy's question."

Mijuse merely blinked. "Well, everyone has their preferences, it's not that I thought anything wrong of it. Just a question is all."

"MISAKA took no offense to your statement." She lifted her teacup and took another sip.

"You know, drink as much as you like, I can always get you a refill."

She looked at him. "R-really, asks MISAKA, shocked someone would make that kind of offer to her?!"

"Uh, yeah, I guess..." Mijuse smiled at her. "Don't worry, I've got some spare change just lingering in there, I only ever buy food with it anyway, and it is not all the time I get to take a girl out, ehehee..." He looked down. _Idiot, this is not a date, so don't make it sound like one. Furthermore..._ He looked up at her. _What is with her addressing herself in third person. I am not one to go judging people or question what they do or like, especially considering some of my past situations, but I have to admit it is strange._ He turned his eyes to the side. _Eh, I won't bother her about it, I don't want to upset her or anything. It's kind of like those manga where synthetic beings simply address themselves as such because they've been taught to view themselves as a non-human. I'll tell you something, people who treat androids and the sort like slaves or not even humanly absolutely disgusts me..._

"The cake is really good, mentions MISAKA as she finishes the dessert." She lifted the final bite into her mouth and then began chewing it.

Mijuse only nodded, then looked down as he reached into his pocket to get out a cell phone. "I said earlier I had your sister on my phone, would you like to talk to her?"

MISAKA 10007 looked at him as he held the phone up towards her. She then stared down at the phone.

"Well?" He began to wave it slightly.

The girl looked up at him. "MISAKA is sorry for causing you unnessecary trouble, apologizes MISAKA, but she really does not wish to cause Onee-sama reason to worry."

"What?" Mijuse smiled at her in a questionable fashion. "You two are twins, right? I doubt she'd be bothered to hear her own voice, especially from a loving family member she hardly gets to see. It's no trouble at all for me either, so just call her."

The sister wiped her mouth with a napkin and stood up from her seat. Mijuse just watched as she faced him. "MISAKA really has to go to the experiment designated for this particular time. She can no longer dwandle about."

"Experiment? Why, do some doctors perform tests on you or something?" He slipped the phone into his pocket with a hint of regret. "Or are you helping them with some sort of operation that requires a unique esper power perhaps?"

"MISAKA will take her leave, completely avoiding your questions as she is running late." She bowed to him. "Thank you very much for the food and the milk tea."

"Well, at least let me get you a cup to carry on the way? I'm sure it must be quite the walk, any hospitals are a good distance from here."

"MISAKA would appreciate that." She uprighted herself and held her hands as Mijuse walked to the counter to get a large cup of milk tea to go, then she directed her attention to a clock on the wall. The time was 8:42 PM. "She is two minutes late."

"Oh, I doubt they'll kick up any sort of fuss over a couple of minutes." Mijuse said, returning back with the cup in hand. "Here you go. Now, what's this experiment about? Is that the reason why you can't see your twin sister?"

The girl blinked at him. "..."

Mijuse lifted an eyebrow. "Well, are you going to tell me or not? Otherwise..."

"ZXC-741-ASD-852-QWE-963, says MISAKA requesting the confirmation of the passcode."

He stared at the twin for a good bit. She didn't budge or even bat an eye. "What... the..."

"MISAKA can see you are not involved with the experiment, says MISAKA as she turns toward the door. Thank you for the extra tea."

Mijuse stared at her as she finally walked out, then he scratched his head. "Hmm... It must be some pretty secret stuff then, no wonder she's a little wierd, but then again, who isn't..." Mijuse turned to the counter to pay for the food they ate, then walked out. He walked towards his dorm and pondered on the thoughts in his head. _Geez, what twin isn't allowed to even talk with their own?_ He shook his head. "I probably better call Mikoto, she might know something about this...

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, flipping it open and going down to Mikoto's number. He was about to press the "call" button until his finger suddenly froze. "Wait... She's probably taking a shower right now or something..." Mijuse looked over at the direction her little twin sister departed. "I can't help shake the feeling that I'm missing something very very important..." He turned his head toward his dorm's direction, then back to hers.

He then sighed. "You're going to regret this, Mijuse..." He shook his head, and then planted his hands inside of his pockets only to begin walking in the same direction she left.

The streets began to grow darker and lonelier by the minute, but the sister was still in sight. _What could she be so late for anyway?..._ Mijuse kept looking around himself, thinking that there might have been someone following him as well. It didn't appear so. Still, he couldn't help thinking to himself he was invading in someone else's privacy. And truthfully, he was. What she did on her time was nothing of his business; still, the thought of people doing horrible experiments to her just kept pushing itself into his thought process.

_Of all the things I've done, this might be the worst._ Mijuse kept a slow pace as he followed Misaka's little sister to her destination. _I look like some pervert who's tracking a girl down for her address, or maybe some sort of stalker..._ He eyed to his right to see a clear street, then to his left to see the wall of a building. His shoes kept tapping against the dry pavement of the street, then he suddenly stopped.

The esper looked down into space, his eyes randomly bolted to a random direction after several seconds. _What am I doing anyway... this has nothing to do with me... What gives me the right to just waltz into someone else's life, huh?_ Mijuse looked up to see that the sister was gone. He blinked, then leaned against the wall of a building. "I guess I'll just go home... I don't care if I have a bad feeling, it is still not morally correct..." Mijuse turned around to then see someone just turn into an alleyway. "What the?"

He became puzzled as the foot of what seemed to be a female disappear behind the corner. "Who was tha-" _Damn it... I'm doing it again!_ Mijuse looked down to the side, narrowing his eyes. _I have no business here... Just go home..._ He took in a deep contented breath, then exhaled it, slightly annoyed by his own behavior. _If the experiment is important, then it must be for the good of the city, and I have no right getting involved... If she was going to get hurt, she'd have said something, anything, or maybe even looked hesitant about proceeding..._ He laughed at himself. _I'm so silly... no... I'm just stupid... Getting caught up in other people's lives... _He glanced forward. _I need to get home, I've got another hard day tomorrow with Mikoto..._

He stepped forward when he suddenly heard a gunshot ring in the distance. His eyes snapped wide open. He blinked, then shot a look behind him. "That was in the direction Misaka's little sister was... Come to think of it, she just disappeared... But, there is no intersection up ahead, it just continues straight for several more blocks." Mijuse stared towards the dark street that stretched far ahead of him. Then, more gunshots sounded. He looked up towards the sky and at the pale moon high above. "Oh no... that wasn't a mistake... Misaka's sister!"

Immediately, Mijuse turned around and sprinted forward. His fists were clenched and a bead of sweat started to form on his nervous forehead. _Whatever, whoever that was, it has to be no coincidence... She's in trouble._ He ran past another apartment complex and turned to his left to see a dark alleyway. "This could be where she had gone..."

Mijuse started down the alleyway. He found it wasn't as dark as he originally thought it would be. More gunshots rang in the distance, but he could tell he wasn't far, and then, a scream shot forth. "Huh?" He stopped, his eyes wide. _What was that?_ He could hear the scream inside his head again, like he had heard it before. _I..._ He gritted his teeth. "I don't have the time to wait on that!" He started forth and turned a corner before a body slammed into his own.

Mijuse screamed as he and whoever was shot into his stomach plummeted against the brick wall behind him. Landing hard, he let out a short wail of pain. It felt like his rib cage was just shot by a large rock the size of his head. He grunted, then looked up to see someone casually walking towards them. His thin arms were inside his pockets, and Mijuse could see by his silhoute his hair was probably as long as his own. _Who is that?_

A cough came forth from the body that slammed into him. "Huh?"

Mijuse looked down to find the very girl he was tailing, and his eyes opened wide. Blood sploches were soaking her clothes, her socks were torn, her hair was a mess, and blood ran down from her forehead.

"Misaka!" Mijuse took hold of her carefully, being sure not to worsen her injuries any more than they already were. "No, what is this!?"

Slowly, her eyes opened and looked at him. "What... are you... doing here... asks MI... SAKA..."

Mijuse stared at her. "What's going on here?" _No, I already know what's going on here... She tried to take a short cut to where she was going and ran into this guy..._ Mijuse looked up to see a pale skinned boy with a short-sleeved striped shirt step into the moonlight. He had white hair and sharp red eyes.

"Well, well... This is the first time this has happened..." the albino said with a sadistic grin. "Tell me, did you just happen to find your way into this predicament?"

Mijuse wanted to answer, but then...

"Ah well... I guess it really doesn't matter. Witnesses can't really be afforded, so I'm just going to have to kill you..."

Mijuse's eyes opened wide. _Kill me!? For what? I don't even know your name! What did I step into!?_ His body started to shake from the shear terror over coming him. This boy had no weapon, so he had to be an esper if he could throw Misaka's little sister around like that. Mijuse clinched his teeth and pulled the girl in his arms closer. "Get away from us!"

The boy raised an eyebrow. "Heh? Why do you care about that animal?" He looked down at her. "Doesn't really concern me anyway..." He reached down in a split second and grabbed the collar of Mijuse's jacket. The shorter boy screamed as the albino gave an insane laughter and threw him.

Mijuse could feel the force, the speed he was going at. It felt like he was flying, until he suddenly hit the outer corner of a brick wall. With a small rebound, he hit the floor and skidded slightly. His eyes squinted hard from the pain in his back and chest. "Damn..." He opened his hidden eye and looked up to see his attacker walking towards him.

"I can deal with the shit anytime I want to... But you should not even be here..."

Mijuse closed both eyes. _This is bad... I've got to get up..._ Mijuse opened his clear eye and looked over to Misaka's hurt little sister. She was barely moving. _I've... got to save her..._ Mijuse lifted an arm, and then planted his palm on the ground. _I won't give up, not just like that..._ He stood up and the assailant smiled a bit.

"So... you honestly think you actually have a chance against me?"

Mijuse smiled. "This is not a contest to see who has a chance... Just let me and the girl go... We want nothing to do with you..."

"Ha, as if! You must be a fucking moron if you think I'm just going to let you walk away." He laughed, and then kicked the ground. Suddenly, hundreds of small rocks bulleted at the level 3, who then let out an eruption of kinetic energy. "Huh?" The albino smiled and watch dozens of the pebbles blow past him. "So, you do have an ability... This could be fun..."

He bent down on his knees, ready to kick forward at the kid until _she_ spoke up.

"Please..."

The attacker ceased his movements. "Hmm? What is it now... you little shit?" He turned his head to the girl on the ground.

"Please... do not hurt him... begs MISAKA..." Mijuse stared at her in disbelief. "He... has nothing to do... with the experiment..."

_This is the experiment she was talking about? Is she supposed to..._ Mijuse didn't even want to finish that thought. "No! I'm not going to let you die! I'm getting you out of here, you understand?"

The girl looked at him. "But, you can... not win against... him... only MISAKA... can..."

"No, look at you. You're hurt. I am going to get us out of here, and you are going to a hospital, that is it."

The albino cleared his throat. "That's a nice plan and all... but, did you forget about me?" Mijuse turned his attention towards him. "What, did you honestly think beating me or showing me your cute little power would scare me?" He laughed a high pitched chuckle. "As if!"

Mijuse squinted his eyes. "Then I guess this will have to be done the hard way..."

"Oh please..." He said, closing his eyes. "Entertain me..."

The level 3 growled and kicked at the ground, and suddenly bursted towards him with his fist raised.

"Idiot!" the albino yelled with a grin before lifting his leg.

Misaka's little sister gasped loudly when the loud crackling sound came.

Mijuse's world seemed to have slowed down as he felt the other boy's shoe go into his stomach. Then he suddenly flew back and hit the wall again, only to land against the hard pebble covered pavement. Mijuse groaned in pain as the attacker walked forth.

"Come on, get up, hero..." He chuckled even more.

Mijuse pushed himself up slowly, wincing in pain. _His laugh is getting on my nerves..._ He stood up and put his hands together over his head. _That's it, just like before..._

The white haired boy stopped with a smile. "What are you doing now, are you trying to tell me something, heh?"

"No, asshole..." Mijuse formed a large cyan sphere about the size of a basketball over his hands. "I want to give you a present!" He threw his hands down and the energy flew toward the boy smiled even more as it touched him, then an large pulse filled the area.

Misaka 10007 felt the concussion push her back a bit. Mijuse was forced back as well, but he smiled at the smoke cloud in front of him. _There is no way that could have finished him off for good, but that should atleast buy me enough time to get her out of here._ Mijuse turned to look at the fallen girl. "Alright, I'm coming to get yo-"

Suddenly, the assailant lunged from the smoke and grabbed Mijuse's neck. With a whisper of a second, he felt himself against the wall, his feet were off the ground.

"Very nice, kid..." He told him. "But that won't save you..." Mijuse stared at the boy holding him. "Did you even once consider _who_ you were even fighting?"

_What does it matter, who cares who I'm fighting against!? I just want to go home!_

He smiled. "Well, I guess I could tell you, you did surprise me and give me some fun tonight... So I guess you earned it..." He pushed him into the wall easily, causing Mijuse to grunt in sick pain. Bricks began to fall from the sides as they were moved out of their assigned positions. "I mean after all... Not many idiots survive this long against Accelerator..."

Mijuse's eyes opened wide. _Accelerator!? The... _He began to shake in his hand, adrenaline was bursting through his veins. _Number one esper in Academy City..._

Accelerator smiled at his handy work. It was always nice to see his prey cower before him before he finished them off. "Nice to see you too..."

A loud sick sound filled the air, blood bursting and flesh tearing. Misaka 10007 stared forward as she saw Accelerator's free hand go right through the smaller boy's chest.

Mijuse couldn't even begin to comprehend the object inside his body. His eyes were wide and stricken with pain, yet he could not even scream. He shook as he felt huge amounts of blood start to evacuate his body, but then more agony came forth as the Level 5 esper slid his arm out from his body, completely untouched.

"You're lucky..."

The boy started to slowly twitch as he looked down to see the damage. His sight started to become blurry only to see the arm holding him. Mijuse blinked to clear his sight, nothing was working. He suddenly felt weak and his body started to become numb. _I knew... I was going to... Regret this..._

Accelerator turned around and tossed the boy into a pile of boxes. Misaka 10007 watched as his eyes half-lidded. They appeared to be almost empty. "Mi... Mijuse..."

The esper slowly rose his hand and touched the hole in his body. He could feel a thick warm liquid gush out. He took it away weakly and looked into his hand to find it stained red. _Am I... dying?_ He looked up to Accelerator who stood before him, most of his body covered by the shadow of the moonlight. His grin was absent. "I..." Mijuse lowered his head. "I..."

He felt his neck and arm give way and they fell limp. _This... Everything is getting dark, I... can't even see... now..._ He blinked. _It feels... like I am... floating... in a sea... of nothingness..._ Cloudy images came forth into his mind from his past. Countless shadows standing over him, faceless people snickering and comments floating about.

"What a weakling..."; "This is an esper?"

They kept flying by, that is all he knew... _No friends... no... family..._ Mijuse smiled a weak one. _No... life... now..._ He looked over to the girl lying on the ground far from him. Accelerator was now making his way over to her. Then he turned to the ground in front of him, and then... fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: I have to say this, I am so sorry for the long update. I've been so busy with my other story that I didn't have time until now to get this done. By the way, I never said this story was completed either. ;)

Chapter 8

**Author's Note**: I have to say this, I am so sorry for the long update. I've been so busy with my other story that I didn't have time until now to get this done. By the way, I never said this story was completed either. ;)

Chapter 8

Various cars and vehicles were streaming past the noon-lit sidewalk. The loud hustle and bustle of Academy City was present everywhere like always, people were crowding the streets and sidewalks, and many luncheries were in good business. On the sidewalk as the group of Mikoto, Kuroko, Saten, and Uiharu. Saten watched Mikoto like she normally did these days. Every day they'd see her, she'd look more exhausted than before, and she'd try harder to pretend nothing was wrong.

"So..." she started and abruptly stopped. Kuroko, Uiharu, and Mikoto turned to look at her. "Where should we eat?"

Mikoto scratched her hair slightly. "How about that cafe we always eat at, there isn't usually much business there..."

"True." Saten agreed. The group began to walk towards their new destination.

Kuroko eyed towards her best friend, she still had that strange attitude about her, a foriegn aura they've felt for weeks now. Still, if she wished not to tell them about or ask for their help, then it meant she had everything under control... hopefully.

"Hey..." Mikoto started. She turned towards Saten and Uiharu, whom of which lifted their gazes to her. "Have either of you heard from Mijuse yet?"

Saten wore a flat smile and scratched her head. "No... I haven't seen him in school for the past week..."

"He disappeared the day we hung out together..." Uiharu said. "Do you think he maybe got shy and ran away?"

Mikoto shook her head. "I don't think so..." She knew he was a little shy, especially from how he acted on the bus a week ago when they first met. He was the one who talked to her, he was even concerned for her. "He's the type to try to do anything he can to help others around him..." _Like another certain someone I know..._

"How do you know that?" Kuroko inquired suspiciously. "You sound like you've known him for a good while..."

Mikoto shook her head. "No... I just met him on some random bus one night. I was quite tired and he gave me a whole chocolate bar. It was quite cheap, so I could tell he had no money on him..." She looked to the sky with a frown. "He was soaked by the rain and had no place to sit... He isn't treated fairly nicely by his peers, but still he thought of my well-being over his own. He could have been like the countless other people we all see and not even say anything..."

Saten's eyes began to gleam. "Wait! I think I know what it is!"

"Hmm?" Kuroko and Mikoto turned to her.

"Misaka, he's your-"

Uiharu covered her mouth quickly with a nervous grin. "Saten, we talked about this! Ehehehee..." She turned to the two Tokiwadai students. "Just forget she opened her mouth."

Kuroko blinked in disturbed bewilderment as Mikoto just smiled.

"Sure, sure... Come on... let's go eat."

Mikoto began to lead the way as Kuroko strutted up to her side.

"Onee-sama..."

"Hmm?"

"Are you going out tonight again?"

"Oh..." Mikoto looked solemnly to the ground. "Yeah, but tonight should be the last time I have to do this."

Kuroko's face brightened with pleasant surprise. "Really?" Mikoto only nodded.

"Do note I said **should**..."

Kuroko then smiled. "I keep that in mind as I hope for the best, Onee-sama. So... May I ask if you might need anything before you set off again?"

"Hmm..." Mikoto looked up as Saten came to her other side.

"Maybe a dress perhaps? I know some good stores..."

"Huh? No..." Mikoto only chuckled. "No... But Kuroko..."

"Yes, Onee-sama?"

"Let me take the first shower so I can get out as quick as possible. I don't want to be left with all of the cold water again..."

"Sure. But, are you going to stay out the whole night like before?"

"Whole night, huh?.." Saten said with a grin.

Mikoto turned to the cheerful girl. "Yeah... The _whole_ night."

"Oh, Mikoto, I didn't know you were so grown up already!" Saten exclaimed. "Tell me..." her eyes were gleaming like jewels now as she pressed closer to the Railgun. "What is it like?! Is it exciting? Did it hurt the first time?"

"Uh, Saten, I believe you've got the totally wrong idea..." Mikoto said nervously with a chuckle.

"She does..." Uiharu hopelessly facepalmed her forehead. "That's all she suspects you're doing so late at night. I've tried to convince her otherwise, but she won't go for it..."

Misaka merely sighed. She was too tired to really fall into the light-atmosphere nonsense her friends gave her often. "Please keep trying..."

Uiharu smiled and gave a small thumbs up. "You can count on me, Misaka."

"Nice..."

The group finally arrived at the cafe and took their usual seats next to the window. Mikoto leaned into the leather red seating and heaved a heavy sigh. The others noticed her fatigue, but like always, abided by her wishes and ignored it.

_Just two more facilities left... After these two, it should all be over..._ Mikoto turned to the window with a tired face. _No more people will have to die..._

"What do you think Mikoto is doing right about now?"

Saten lied on her stomach in her bed, kicking her feet slowly as she wrote down an answer to a complex math problem in her notebook.

_"I don't really know, Saten..."_ said the voice of Uiharu over the phone.

"Do you think she is out on a date or something?" Saten bit the eraser tip of her pencil lightly and tried to twirl it.

_"No... Dates do not make someone as tired as she is now... She isn't going to school from what I've heard from Kuroko."_

Saten pushed herself up. "Seriously?"

_"Mmhmm... It sounds like to me Mikoto is doing something very important and tedious. We need to be there for her when she needs our support."_

Saten sat back on the bed, being sure to keep hold of her cellphone. "You don't think she's pushing money or robbing banks do you? Or even worse..!"

_"Saten..."_

"You're right..." she laughed lightly. "I'll be serious this time..." Saten sat back more into her pillow as her smile started to fade. "I've heard lately that numerous labs have been being destroyed late at night all over the city... No kinds of tapes or records are available for looking over and anykind of electronic defense system does not work against the intruder destroying those facilities. I've heard a rumor that only one person is taking all of those facilities out, and that is has been going on for over three weeks now..."

_"But Misaka only started acting like she was now three weeks ago." _Uiharu said with concern more evident than the ocean's waves.

Saten nodded. "Think about it... Electronics don't work against this person, no kinds of records, and Mikoto being like she is, all of these incidents happened at night..." Saten tapped her finger against her pencil. "What are you thoughts Uiharu?"

The phone stayed silent for a good while. Saten blinked as she continued to await an answer from her friend, but none came. "Uiharu?.."

_"No."_

"Huh?" Saten perked up.

_"I am not going to suspect my friend is involved with such illegal activities."_

Saten stared at the phone with her eyes. _How could she not peice together the evidence?_

_"Misaka is an honest and good person, there is no way she would go around and destroy millions of dollars of property. And even if she is, then she would let us know about it, right?! I mean, what would be the point in her doing all of that? There is none. Misaka is my friend, our friend, and I will not even begin to think she is destroying the city."_

Saten blinked to her sheets, then smiled softly. "Yeah, you're right..." She took a peice of the cloth into her index finger and thumb and began to twittle with it. "I was wrong to suspect Mikoto was involved in something like that... When she wants to tell us what is going on... she will."

_"Yep!"_ Uiharu said excitedly. _"Okay, Saten. I need to hang up so I can finish my homework and go to bed."_

"Alright, good night." Saten pulled the phone from her ear and clicked it off. She then set the phone down beside her and turned back to her own homework. "Oh Mikoto... I wish you would atleast tell me something... I can understand if you don't wish to tell Kuroko or Uiharu... you'd worry their poor heads off with how much they care about you... But it is so much worse to be guessing about your condition, I'm so concerned for you..."

Saten turned to the window of her dorm.

"Please... just be safe, where ever you are and what ever you are doing..."

Mikoto heaved heavily as she held her bleeding arm. She winced and ducked to her left as a bright green ray shot through the wall beside her. "I need to get to the control room of this place and shut it down before these people kill me... But... I can't fight against a fresh level 5 when I'm so worn down..." Mikoto began running away from her current position just in time to avoid another shot from the Melt Downer. _I need to keep my head up and do what I came to do. My mission is not with them... But it is just so unfair! First that Frenda girl who wears me out and hurts me, then these three show up, with the fourth strongest esper in the city!_

This was supposed to be the last night, the final frontier for her. She was about to end all of this tragic and sick experimentation, but it appears someone else had a different opinion. But despite her injuries, despite her obstacles, she was not about to let this continue any more! It has already gone on for long enough. She made a pledge she would put an end to the this experiment, even if it costed her life. Mikoto growled as she ran forward into the deep darkness far ahead of her.

"Such rotten luck!"


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Darkness enveloped all around, nothing could be seen, but the constant hum of machines were present around the area. Ever so slowly, hesitant eyelids opened weakly and humbly. Everything felt horrible, nothing made sense anymore. Only a dark roof could be seen which was reflecting the city lights from the window.

_What's... going on?_

He groaned heavily as he tried to lift his heavy head from his pillow and slowly let it slump back into position. The insides of his throat were dry and it almost tasted like metal. He closed his eyes exhaustedly before he heard a door open up. _Huh?_ He tilted his head which fell into the pillows on its side to see a doctor walk in. He looked rather strange for a doctor, or a person for that matter.

"Ah, you're awake..." he said with a slightly heavy, yet soft and assuring voice. "You've been out for quite a while now..."

The boy stayed silent for a good while and turned to face the doctor.

"Oh, don't worry. You can talk, I've made sure to fix that."

The boy coughed slightly to clear his throat. "Wha... What... happened?" His voice cracked and was very hoarse. The doctor walked over to his side and lifted a cup of water to his dry lips.

"Here... Drink this, it will make you feel a whole lot better."

The patient wearily looked at the man's face to find it looked much like a frog's. He then turned his attention to the cup in his hands and recieved the cold water. It felt very rejuvinating, and it was somehow foreign to him. He could feel much of his insides being coated with the life giving minerals and swallowed it. The water massaged his throat like nothing he had ever felt before. With a soft smile, he lied back down.

"You suffered quite some injury, but it was nothing I couldn't handle. Seems like you ran into the wrong person at the wrong time, Mijuse..."

The esper looked over at the frog faced doctor. "Wha-... How do you know... my name?"

"The person who brought you in told the staff in the ambulance that was your name. Do you remember it?"

Mijuse lifted a tired eyebrow. "Why... ask a question like... that... My name is... Mijuse... Hikan..."

"Well, it's good to see you haven't suffered brain damage. I had a regular of mine suffer from a severe case of amnesia, though it is unrecoverable."

Mijuse lifted up the sheets to find a very loose white T-shirt over his body. Curiously and almost afraid, he lifted the front collar to see his chest and stomach. Both looked completely intact and almost like nothing ever happened, except for the faint diagnal scar across his upper torso.

"You're very lucky you have the type of body you have... We had to replace your stomach and heart you know..."

Mijuse looked up at him. "Rea... lly..."

"Yes, we did. You may not like the sound of this, but they came from a dead girl, apparently she died on the very night you nearly did..."

Mijuse blinked and looked down to his chest. _Misaka's little sister..._ He lifted his hand and felt his chest. A heart beated smoothly in his body. It did not feel like his, but it worked... somehow... "That girl died?"

The doctor nodded. "Sadly, yes... She looked exactly like the Railgun too, Misaka Mikoto. But reports indicate she is still running around the city, going about her life..."

Mijuse let his head fall into the pillow. "I see..."

The doctor planted his hands in his pockets and tilted his head. "How do you feel, son?"

"I'll make it... You did an... excellent... job, sir..."

"Please, call me Heaven Canceller... That's how I'm known around these parts..."

Mijuse kept his hand to his chest.

"If there is anything you need, feel free to press that blue button right there and a nurse will attend to you shortly..."

Mijuse barely nodded. "Thank you... sir..."

"Don't mention it. In any case of emergency, hit that red button and the rest will explain itself... Now..." He straightened his coat. "If you'll excuse me, I have other patients I need to attend to."

"Wait!..." Mijuse almost yelled out.

The frog faced doctor turned his direction. "Yes?"

Mijuse took in a breath, then exhaled. "You said... that I was out for... quite a while..." He turned his head towards him with half-closed and exhausted eyes. "How long... was I asleep?"

"Almost a whole eight days..." the doctor told him. "But I'm pleased to see you woke up. As you can tell, you are in some bad condition, but it is only temporary. It's from the surgery. There is no morphine in your system either, that pain is only natural now. You slept through the worst the of it."

Mijuse nodded. "Thank you..."

"Don't worry about it, son. Helping people is what I do, and there hasn't been a dying life I have not lost yet, and yours was not an exception." The doctor smiled and walked off. Mijuse rolled his head back to face the roof and felt his chest.

He could feel her heart beating inside of him, it felt like hardly no conflictions were even being made. He somehow liked the way it felt, it was almost as if she wanted him to have her heart. He looked to the side with his eyes and tried to remember back to that night and to how his own heart felt. He couldn't even remember it, it felt like he never had his own heart at all. He smiled lightly. _I guess she'll stay with me forever now..._ He closed his eyes and tried to remember her face. Misaka 10007, the first girl he ever took out to eat somewhere... He remembered her face when she was so astonished by the seconds he offered her, and the genuine surprise she gave when he continued to ask.

He smiled and then looked to the blue button. He slowly pressed it and heard a woman's voice come on.

_"Yes, how my I help you?"_

"May I have... some milk tea, please?"

_"Sure, honey. I'll bring some up to your room shortly, you rest easy now."_

"Thank you..."

He stared back off to the roof. _When I get out of here... the first thing I'm going to do is tell Mikoto everything... Then I'm going to do everything in my power to find out what Misaka 10007 died for..._ He clutched his chest lightly. _I will not let you just disappear... I can almost feel you in spirit, even if there is no kind of evidence, it will be nice to think of you this way... That way... I'm never alone again._ His smile weakened as he opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Mijuse was now walking slowly out of the hospital. It had been three days since he woke up, but his spirits were much lower than he ever could have thought. What could have happened the whole week he was out, and the three more days that followed... He knew about the experiments going on now, he knew there were more than 10000 of them dead now, no doubt much more had died since 10007.

The day was of a foggy nature, it held a very grey and bleak appeal. A malovolent light shined down on the city, casting a unique beauty, but it also took the color from the world around them. It almost seemed like it was an early morning, but it was actually an hour past noon.

_Accelerator..._ An image of the white haired boy came to his mind, the bored look on his face, the absense of light in his eyes. Mijuse sat down on a bench. He leaned back and looked to the grey sky. His grey polymer jacket rustled against the hard wood and his bright eyes gazed into the emptiness of the cloudy enigma. _What could possibly be really happening out there..._ Mijuse eyes looked to the side. He could see Tokiwadia Middle School not far from the hospital. He had to let Mikoto know about this, did she know clones of her were made and were being used in some insane experiment?

The esper turned to his chest now fully covered by the unzippable hoodie. He sighed tiredly and pushed himself up. Mijuse started slowly to the school. _How should I approach this... How should I tell her? Is there even time to spare? Do I let her know slowly and drag it out, risking another death to take place where ever it may be, or do I just tell it to her straight and risk her going into shock... Or will she..._ His eyes opened slightly in despair, the edges of his mouth struggled to force their way down to a frown of fear and agony. He clenched the chest area of his polymer hoodie and slowly blinked to regain control of an emotion, a fear.

_I don't want to be all alone again..._ The faces of Saten, Uiharu, and Mikotos' entered his mind and that happy day he first spent being with other real people, instead of hiding in his room, from the fears that clogged his mind about human beings. _But I have to tell her... This is... too important..._

Mijuse swallowed deeply and started tredging to the middle school the level 5 was located at.

;-;-;

Mijuse stepped up the gate of the all girls academy. He blinked with wonder, but not an wonder of pure curiousity of an all girl's school, it was getting into contact with Mikoto. _The best way would be to contact an authority figure in the school and see if I can get in touch with her there, but she would probably not want anyone else hearing this._ He turned to the right of the gate. A peach colored brick tower that was well over three times his height held the right hing of the two doored gate. He could see there was a sort of speaker hooked up to it. Maybe that contacted an official of the school.

He walked over to it and pressed the button. In no less than a minute, a woman's voice came over the speaker.

"Hello? Who is it?"

The voice was strong and definetely held authority in it. It made him a bit nervous. "U-uh..."

"Come on, out with it. I am busy." the voice demanded.

He cleared his throat. "Uh, hello... My name is Mijuse Hikan, I'm a student from another middle school who was recently released from the hospital... I..." He turned away slightly, could he go through with it? He clenched his fist lightly. "I really need to speak with Misaka Mikoto..."

"Really? Do you know her?"

"Y-yes... We are... Acquaintances..." _I don't know Mikoto well enough to call her my friend... We've barely known eachother for a day, and then all of this happened... It's going to take a lot of explaining to clear up this nonsense..._

"Well, Mijuse, I am sorry to say the student you are looking for is currently unavailable."

Mijuse sighed. _I figured as much. Being in such a top rated school, she must have to follow very strict rules._ "I am sorry to persist, but what I need to talk to her about is really important. It regards her family."

"Well, normally, we would allow you to see Ms. Misaka, but as I said, she is currently unavailable." the voice continued to inform. "Not in the sense that she is busy and personally can not see you, but it is due to the fact she is not here."

"Huh?" Mijuse was puzzled. "Not there? But... How?"

"She has been absent for more than a couple of days now. You wouldn't happen to know anything about why she has been gone? If you wish to wait for her, we could allow you to sit in the office in case she were to return to the dorms."

Mijuse looked over into the grey street. A car blew by with a subtle wind. _I can't just sit idly by. I'll have to hope I run into her as I conduct my own investigation into this sick matter..._ Misaka 10007's face came to his mind again. He looked to the ground. _There are more of them out there that need to be saved. I need to stop them before they meet Accelerator..._

_"I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm going to have to turn down your offer... I'll just go look for her myself."_

_"Do you have any idea where she could be, Hikan?"_

_"I'm sorry... I honestly do not... But I can't afford to wait..." _Mijuse turned the mic off without waiting for a reply. He turned around and started off into the city when the voice suddenly came back on.

"Hikan, wait."

Mijuse stopped and turned to the speaker.

"Are you there? Hello?"

He walked over to it and pressed the button. "Yes, ma'am?"

"If this could help, would you like to get in touch with her roommate?"

_I hadn't thought of that!_ "Y-yes, please..."

"Alright, I'll open the gates and send a teacher to escort you to the main office. From there, you will follow our school rules except the obvious standards. You will meet with her in a few short minutes there, understand."

"Completely."

The gates then opened up and Mijuse did what he was told. He walked in and waited for an instructor to show him to the office. It didn't take long before he was standing in the main office waiting for Mikoto's roommate to show herself. He set himself down into a plastic cushioned in a grey blue color. He looked around the place. The wood floors were recently waxed, the oval red rug placed in the center of the clear floor before the principal's long dark wood red desk was perfectly clean and aligned. The hallways looked elegant to an appeal, but he thought it was slightly going overboard. Mijuse then looked to the principal. She wore a fine business attire complete with a dark red tie. Her hair was tied in a pony tail to the back and her bangs were neatly curved to the underside of her sidelocks. She had dark brown eyes and a pointy black glasses with a serious face to match, but there was a kindness about her Mijuse couldn't quite place.

"Ah, and he she comes." the lady said as she placed down a pencil she was using to write with.

Mijuse turned to the door to see a familiar figure walk through. She had twin pigtails on both sides of her head and had light orange eyes and light reddish hair. It was Shiria Kuroko, one of the girls he had acquaintanced on that fateful day.

"Yes, ma'am?" Kuroko asked in a normal, but respectful tone.

"Kuroko, there is a boy here who wishes to speak with you."

"Huh?" Kuroko turned to see Mijuse sitting in a chair. Her eyes widened with surprise and shock. "Mijuse!? What are you doing here!?"

The principal folded her hands upon one another and propped them up on her elbows. "I take it you know him?"

"Yes." Kuroko turned to the principal. "Onee-sama and some of my friends all had a day together in the park over a week ago before he suddenly disappeared."

Mijuse's heart almost skipped a beat, but he kept his gaze to her, his expression of tiredness not fading. _Onee-sama..._ That was the word, no... the name the clones addressed Mikoto as. Their big sister. It was like striking a nerve, not an annoyed or angry one, but one of revelation. They really were dying, but what could save them? Surely the government wouldn't care... No, it would have to the be the good hearts of good people. People who would see more than just a clone.

"Well..." the principal continued. "Apparently, the boy is here to see Misaka Mikoto..."

Kuroko's eyes opened more. "Onee-sama...? But why?"

"Apparently it has to do with her family, and judging by his timing and the way he looks..." the two girls turned to him, who in turn looked to the ground and intertwined his fingers over the space between his knees. "It must be pretty important. I will leave you two to talk in private. I was hoping you could point him to where our missing princess may be, but... I'll leave that to you..." She stood up and walked out of the room, being sure to shut the door. Kuroko turned to the troubled young teen sitting before her and sighed heavily.

"Geez... You disappear without a word and then just suddenly show up out of the blue needing to talk to Onee-sama..."

Mijuse just blinked to the ground under his shadow.

"Saten and Uiharu have not seen you anywhere at school as well... You got them really worried right now and you don't even say you're sorry? You're just going to come into this school to talk to Mikoto and you're not going to consider the feelings of those you came to meet?" Kuroko sat down and crossed her legs. "Well, I can't say I blame you... Onee-sama has been acting wierd too... What you have to say couldn't possibly be related to what she's doing, would it?"

"I don't know what Mikoto has been up to... I've been in the hospital for the past week..." Kuroko blinked. "I just really need to talk to her and I was hoping you'd know where she could be..."

Kuroko sighed. "I'm sorry, kid... I don't know where Onee-sama is right now..." Kuroko turned away with a grieved sigh. "She refuses to tell any of us what is going on with her right now... She's been very different over the past few days and I think she's hurt too..."

Mijuse closed his eyes in reverence.

"We've been friends for the longest time and she doesn't even trust _me_ enough to tell me what is going on... Every night she is away, I worry about her for countless hours. The time seems endless now, and all I want to do is help, but the most I can do is be there for her when she finally wants to let it all out."

"So, she hasn't told you anything at all..."

Kuroko shook her head. "Wait a minute, did she tell _you_?"

"No..." Mijuse lifted his head up. "She hasn't told me anything. What I need to tell her might not even be related, but I need to tell her..."

Kuroko's eyes sterned. "Did you not hear what I told you? Onee-sama is having a really hard time right now. I know you may have had some hard times, but if you just want to convey some sorry emotions to her, then you don't need to make her life any harder than it is right now... Understand?"

_I hadn't even thought of that!_ Mijuse's eyes opened wide. _I didn't even consider Mikoto could be going through something serious right now... But... This is... I can't just not tell her anything!_ "Kuroko, this has nothing to do with me or my feelings... This is for her, not for me... I could care less about myself..."

Kuroko looked to the ceiling. "What is it that is so important you must tell her, huh?"

Mijuse turned to her. _I wonder... Does she even know? Maybe Mikoto doesn't want them to know or something... I've got to be careful..._ "Tell me, do you know anything about her family?"

"Well, yeah. I've seen her mom a couple of times..."

"Is that it?"

Kuroko nodded. "Yeah, I've only seen her mom. No dad, no siblings, nothing comes to mind."

"I see..." Mijuse stood up. "I'm sorry for wasting your time then... I'll just go look for her myself."

"Hey, wait a minute." Kuroko voiced as she too stood up in his way. Her voice sounded almost desperate now.

Mijuse held his head mostly down, but looked her in the eye. He planted his hands in his pockets. "Yes, Kuroko?"

"What is going on, you still haven't told me anything about what you need to tell her. What if it is involved in what she is doing-"

"Then it is obviously not my place to tell you."

Kuroko's eyes opened more. Tears started to surface, no words could start to describe the feelings going through her head now. How could a mere stranger know more about what is plaguing her best friend, and she not? How was it that this kid could do more for her Onee-sama than she could in her darkest hours? It was not fair.

"If it could somehow be related, and Mikoto has not told you anything about it, then I'd be going against her privacy... I don't wish to do that. Besides, it may be completely unrelated, like I said... I need to get going..."

"Wait!" Kuroko got in his way again. "Please, if you can, just tell me..." Her mouth was quivering slightly almost as if she was about to break. "Do you have any idea of what is hurting Onee-sama? Please..."

Mijuse blinked. He could see why she was in so much pain. Mikoto did look pretty stressed and tired. She looked hurt and seemed to be getting worse with every passing day. Being her best friend, she obviously just wanted to help and do the best she could to alleviate some of that pain from her. It almost broke his heart. "I... think what I know could be related, but I'm not so sure... If it is..." He turned to her. "I promise I will do what I can to help in your stead..."

Kuroko's eyes became stricken with shock now. _In my stead?!_ Was she going to be replaced? _No! That's... That's just not right. I'm Onee-sama's best friend... I'm... I know her better than anyone..._

"No!"

Mijuse felt Kuroko snatch him by the collar of his hoodie. He looked slightly up at her, being only an inch shorter than she. The level 4 teleporter kept a strong hold of him.

"No, I won't let you disturb her! If Onee-sama wants help, she'll ask her friends for it, not just some kid from the street! We've all known her for a long time now, you don't have anything to do with what she's going through! Just leave her alone!"

Mijuse was shocked to the say the least, he did not expect this to come from such a girl with high standards like her. _Did I say something wrong? I didn't mean to set her off._

"No, you won't replace me, I won't let you! Onee-sama, Onee-sama!"

In less than a second, the principal and the guide that lead the boy in came in and grabbed hold of the teleporter.

"Shirai, Shirai! What's wrong!? Get a hold of yourself!"

Mijuse just watched as they apprehended her. Kuroko let go of him easily enough, but that didn't save his mind. She was freaking out.

"Onee-sama, why won't you tell me what's wrong with you? Onee-sama, Onee-sama!" Tears were streaming down her cheeks now. "Don't you trust me, Onee-sama? Why, why!? Why..." Her words were turning into dreadful sobs now. Mijuse looked to the ground. He clenched his fist and angrily gritted his teeth. He mentally cursed himself, it wasn't supposed to turn out like this... But it did, and there was no turning back. Kuroko cared for Mikoto a lot, he had no intentions of replacing Kuroko, he just wanted to save the clones he came to know...

Mijuse held his hand up to where his heart was and felt it. Walking out, he dared not to look back. It was enough to hear her sobs starting to slowly fade away in the distance behind him... Hopefully, his meeting with Mikoto would not go so down hill...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Mijuse kept his gaze to the ground as he walked through the grey city. Various people were all over the streets, businessmen, women, workers... It didn't matter. Mijuse kept his hands in his pockets, he hoped he would find Mikoto before someone else died. He could feel his heart beating faster for an unknown reason, he didn't know why. He wasn't in any kind of stressful situation, he wasn't fighting nor was he exerting any energy. He wasn't experiencing any fast emotions, nor any nervousness, it was just beating faster, like it did at random so many times. Could it be somehow connected to the experiments?

Mijuse stopped infront of a gaming center and twisted his head to it. He blinked as the various kids whom too were skipping school to play video games were inside, oblivious to the cruel world like he once was. Mijuse thought he had problems with bullies, but now that was the last thing no his mind. He only wanted to save the lives of how many could now facing against an esper known only as "Accelerator".

He started his pace again. The noises of traffic and idle conversations on the phone were everywhere. None of it really intrigued him, the lives of the people in this city like it used to. The level 3 esper turned a corner and kept walking forward. His eyes darted around for Mikoto's appearance, but it was like she was hidden from the world now. How long had she been gone? From he picked up at the school, Mikoto's disappeared for quite a while now.

Mijuse stopped to think. He looked up at the taller buildings around. _Would I be able to find her easier at night?_ In that case... Why not look for any of the sisters too? Mijuse turned his gaze to an alley. _Surely if there is an experiment going on, I could find and maybe rescue the sister, but this time I'll be much more prepared. I don't exactly understand what's going on, but I know some sort of sick experiment is going on..._

Mijuse recalled an image in his mind. He had seen several wierd dreams now, he didn't know if whether it was from the heart of Mikoto's little sister, but there were more, much more than he could think._ Her name was 10007 for a reason... She isn't just Mikoto's twin sister..._ He continued forward. _She isn't part of an experiment, she IS the experiment. Her and her sisters... And if she was 10007, that means over 10000 of her have been killed. Clones..._ He felt his heart jump a beat, causing his body to jolt slightly. Mijuse winced slightly. It happened regularly, almost once or twice a day. Did that signify anything though, or was it just because heart wasn't used to his blood yet?

_I wonder how many there really are, and who would think of a sick experiment like this..._ Mijuse stopped infront of a large brick building hosting many floors and windows. He looked around. _A hotel?_ Mijuse looked up to the grey sky. Only a flock of black birds were overhead, but they were circling around something far away. Mijuse narrowed his eyes. _I wonder..._

He started in that direction, he knew when ravens started circling anything it, was a dead meal. But here in the city, that could only mean a dog or cat had died, or there was a dead human out in an alley somewhere. Mijuse had a pretty good idea of what it could have been too. He kept a good watch on the birds to see that they were slowly lowering. He looked around at the people on the streets, they didn't really seem to care, they were too caught up in their daily routines or business to bother.

Mijuse finally found an alley he deemed would take him to the area below the birds. He walked in at a faster pace. Each step seemed to grow heavier as he pressed closer, he knew he was going to walk in on something very unpleasant. Then, he could smell that stench, blood. Slowly, Mijuse came to a corner. The odor was much stronger now, and the ravens were just over head. He peered around to find an alley covered in red.

His eyes observed the scene with a fear and disgusted streak. Blood was plastered all over the walls and floors in a way he didn't think was even possible. And in the middle of it all was the body of a girl who was face down. Her arms were broken and twisted in a sickening and gruesome way, her left leg was crushed and her eyes were open and empty. Mijuse took another look around for anyone who might still be watching. No one seemed to be here. Quietly, Mijuse came around the corner. He didn't bother to cover his nose, he kept his hands in his pockets and stepped over to the girl who resembled Misaka Mikoto identically.

"So, there really are more of you..." Mijuse bowed his head in defeat. _She died because I was so slow... I wonder if Mikoto knows about any of this... I've got to tell her..._ Mijuse took another look around, then at the body of the girl. "I wonder, what serial number could she be? If the one I met was 10007, it's been a week, so this one would have to be 10018, right?"

"10017, to be exact, says MISAKA as she corrects the familiar boy."

Mijuse turned around to the voice. What he now saw standing before him was Misaka Mikoto. She looked completely unharmed. "Misaka?" He looked to the body, then to her. She wore the same goggles 10007 and the body had on their heads. "You're a clone?"

"Yes." she bluntly replied.

Mijuse turned back to the body. "What's going on here?"

"MISAKA will explain... I am not a human being, but a synthesized arrangement of proteins and drugs. I am a clone of 20000 clones that originate from the DNA of the third level 5 Esper in Academy City, Misaka Mikoto, our onee-sama, informs MISAKA to the clueless boy with no remourse."

Mijuse just blinked. "And what about this experiment, what is the purpose of it?"

"The experiment is help the number one esper, the strongest, Level 5 Accelerator achieve a level 6 shift by commensing battle with clones of the Railgun 20000 times. He is doing quite well, don't you think?, asks MISAKA as she too turns to the body of her fallen sister."

Mijuse shifted his gaze over to the sister now standing. "What number are you, Misaka?"

"This MISAKA is 10019, the next to fight Accelerator the death and maybe win. MISAKA believes she can kill Accelerator, but she'll need to act fast, says MISAKA with high hopes."

Mijuse glanced to the side with a disgusted face, then back to her. "Say? Why won't you just stop and run away?"

"MISAKA can not, this is what MISAKA was designed to do." She stood firm in how she believed. Mijuse could guess they only knew what the director incharge told them to know.

"So, you're just going to kill yourself, is that it?"

"No, MISAKA will fight with the best of her ability and kill Accelerator, or be killed, affirms MISAKA with authority to the stupid boy."

_Well, she's still blunt._

"By the way, thank you for the cake and milk tea, it was delicious, says MISAKA 10007's message to the boy whom she hoped lived through that encounter a week ago."

"Yeah, that's right..." Mijuse tilted his head. "I was wondering, who on earth found me back there and who's idea was it to put that girl's heart and stomach into my body?"

"MISAKA 10008 suggested it, informs MISAKA. She and a few other Misaka found you barely alive in that alleyway where Accelerator painlessly killed MISAKA 10007. They were there for clean up, and we didn't want an innocent bystander suffering because of it. Because you treated Misaka so nicely, we wanted to make sure you stayed alive. You don't seem to want to be a bystander anymore, do you? You could just walk away now and return to your normal routine, but instead, you choose to be here. You don't seem to be scared, is this what you wish to do? If so and you die again, Misaka will not help you out again, warns MISAKA regrettably to the foolish boy."

"I don't expect to get lucky again, but this time I have an understanding of what I'm walking into. You may be willing to go through with this insane experiment, but I'm going to do what I can to save your life, no, all of your lives, understand?" Mijuse looked to the body. "This kind of thing shouldn't even be going on. I'm going to do all it is within my power to save you. If you do wish to run away from the fate set before you, then I swear..." Mijuse lifted up an open palm, then clenched it to a fist. "I'll steal you away."

Misaka 10019 just stared at him. "You still do not wish to walk away? You wish to "save" MISAKA? Fine, you do as you wish, but MISAKA must continue."

"No you don't." Mijuse planted his hand back inside of his pocket. "You can just come with me, and together, we'll lead the rest of your sisters out of this thing. I'm going to enlist the help of Mikoto, she's the third strongest esper in the city. Surely, we'll be able to-"

"Onee-sama already knows about the experiment, says MISAKA to the brainless boy."

Mijuse couldn't do anything but blink. _Mikoto knows? Then I guess her disappearance has __**everything**__ to do with this. She's doing what she can to stop it, I hope... And they don't even care? Or do they?_ Mijuse turned to the blood slathered brick wall. "Don't you find this at all ugly, or gruesome, or just plain wrong?"

"This is all MISAKA has known. This is MISAKA's purpose, to fight Accelerator and kill or be killed. Surely you can understand this, says MISAKA with a heavy heart."

"No, I don't. But I'm still going to do what I can to slow it down and get this all to stop. You all have lives, but yet you don't wish to save yourself."

"The only way to live is to kill Accelerator, says MISAKA. MISAKA knows nothing else. Now, if you will excuse me, MISAKA and her sisters would love to properly dispose of Misaka 10017."

Mijuse turned around to find several more clones whose eyes were covered by glowing green goggles. He couldn't believe there were so many in one place. _What can I do to stop them? Surely there has to be a way. Mikoto is probably working on a way to shut down the experiment from the inside. Then I can maybe slow it down, but I can't be too sure Mikoto knows what is really going on, but then again, she told me she is aware of it. It's too forward, it can't be a coincidence. Mikoto has been trying to stop this experiment since before we met on the bus that night._

Mijuse bowed his head relunctantly and stepped to the side, allowing the Misaka to tend to the deceased. They carefully and kindly took hold of the sister. Mijuse could see the despair in their eyes as they handled her with a mother's love to her own child. He was puzzled at how they could feel like that and continue to go through with it. In truth, were they just so scared they didn't know what else to do? He knew that feeling, and he always wished some big brave hero would just come out from nowhere and save him. Now they really needed one, but he was sure he was far from the credential. Surely the best he could do was try to keep them alive long enough for such a hero to appear.

Mijuse just observed as many of the sisters were cleaning the alleyway to look like nothing had even happened, and when it was done, he was astounded. If he didn't know any better, he'd have never thought nothing like a killing happened here.

"MISAKA will now take her leave, says MISAKA as she bows to the kind boy. Please continue to live on." The clones now took their leave.

"Tell me, do you think you have no value, is that why you continue on with this?"

They all turned around. 10019 simply blinked at him. "MISAKA is a mere lab rat that can be created with the push of a single button, why would you care for MISAKA."

"Because..." _Because why? What could someone say to that? I don't know... Sometimes I've felt just as worthless... But not in a way I'd throw my life away..._ He looked up to see the clones leaving. He growled. "Just because you're clones..." he called out to them. They stopped and directed their attention to him once again. "Just because you're clones doesn't mean you're worthless. So you weren't made like the rest of us, so what? You're still here, and that's all that matters. You can think, and it is obvious you can feel. Please, don't go through with this anymore..."

"Thank you for your kind words, but MISAKA has no choice in the matter. Good bye..." They then walked off into the darkness. Mijuse turned away and stuffed his hands into his pockets.

"Then I'll have to convince you otherwise. I'll just have to do my best to make sure no more of you die until something amazing happens..." Mijuse looked up. "I just hope there is a hero out there who can put an end to all of this. Hopefully, until then, I can make them think otherwise, that they were not meant to just die. I can only do what I can... Until then, I need to find Mikoto..." Mijuse proceeded to walk out of the darkness. Trully this situation seemed grim, but there was surely a way out, there always was.


End file.
